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- Online Course – Kids’ Snake Awareness (Southern Africa)
Curriculum
- 22 Sections
- 87 Lessons
- Lifetime
Expand all sectionsCollapse all sections
- Introduction5
- How do snakes work?8
- Snake Senses5
- Snake Behaviour8
- Snake Defences10
- Snakebite & Venom8
- Snakes of Southern Africa4
- The Alluring AddersAdders generally have a stubby body and large fangs that fold back against the roof of the mouth. These snakes are responsible for many serious snakebites. An adder’s bite is very painful, and the venom causes swelling and tissue damage. Adders often occur close to cities.6
- The Swift SpittersThere are five spitting snakes in Southern Africa, the Rinkhals and four cobras. The distance that these snakes can spit their venom is just short of 3 m. When threatened, they aim for the eyes, temporarily blinding their victim and that will give the snake time to escape. When they bite, they inject the same venom that they spit.5
- The Charming CobrasCobras are medium to long, slim snakes and highly venomous. They are known for lifting their heads well off the ground and pushing out ribs in the neck, forming a hood as a warning sign when they feel threatened.4
- The Marvelous MambasMambas belong to the same snake family as the cobras, called Elapids. When annoyed, the Black Mamba also rises and spreads a narrow hood while gaping, showing the black inner lining of the mouth. Unlike cobras, the mambas tend to lean slightly forward instead of staying upright. The Black Mamba spends most of its time on the ground, but the Green Mamba lives in trees.3
- The Canopy CrewThese snakes spend most of their lives in trees and shrubs and seldom descend to the ground. Even though their venom is very dangerous, they pose little danger to humans. It is a myth that people may be bitten on the head when walking beneath one of these snakes.3
- The BulldozersSpeckled Shield-nosed Snakes and Mole Snakes are secretive and spend most of their lives underground, where they bulldoze forward in search of food. For this rather strange lifestyle their heads have adaptations to help with burrowing. Speckled Shield-nosed snakes are sometimes seen on warm summer nights crossing roads while large numbers of Mole snakes are killed on roads during the day, especially in the Western Cape.5
- The Grass GangThese snakes are long and slim and, in many cases, have stripes from head to tail. They move very quickly. If you catch any of these snakes by the tail, they can spin around and snap off a piece of the tail in order to escape.6
- The Dramatic DazzlersThese mildly venomous snakes are active at night and put up quite a show to intimidate intruders when threatened. They coil up, lift their head off the ground, flatten it to enhance the size of the upper lips, and strike out quite viciously with their mouth agape. Although they look fearsome, their venom has little effect on people, although it is effective on their prey.5
- The Glamorous GreensGreen snakes have slim, bright green bodies, and lack fangs, which means that they are not dangerous to humans. If they feel threatened, they may inflate their throats, showing the brightly coloured skin under their scales. These snakes spend much of their lives among the branches of trees and are well adapted for climbing. Seven harmless green snakes occur in southern Africa.4
- The Water WanderersAs their name indicates, water snakes spend most of their time in or near water and are very good swimmers. Although many people are frightened of them, southern Africa’s water snakes are harmless to humans.3
- The Picky EatersSome snakes are specially adapted to feed on just one type of food. Slug-eaters, for example, are a friend to gardeners, because they eat only snails and slugs, helping to control these pests. Centipede-eaters are specialized for eating centipedes, which are fierce prey and sometimes manage to kill and eat their attackers instead! Egg-eaters are picky eaters, they feed exclusively on bird eggs which they swallow whole.4
- The House of Helpful & HarmlessMasters of adaptation, house snakes frequent human dwellings (hence their common name), where food waste attracts their main prey – rodents. They are harmless and quite handy to have around.3
- The GiantAt up to 6m the Southern African Python is by far the largest snake in southern Africa, while Peters’ Thread Snake is the smallest – it’s barely the length of a 30 cm ruler. Neither of these snakes are venomous, although pythons can give a painful bite that may need stitches.2
- The Alien2
- The Secretive Scales SocietyThese snakes spend most of their time underground. They have very shiny, close-fitting scales and small inky eyes. Their main diet is termites, their eggs, and other small invertebrates.6
How to use this course
Navigating the Course
This course is divided into two sections. The first explores the characteristics of snakes, while the second focuses on individual snakes, providing a detailed profile for each.
Understanding the Snake Cards
In the second part of the course, each snake is featured on a Snake Card, like the Cape Cobra example below. These cards provide details on the snake’s diet, habitat, length, appearance, similar species, and interesting facts. A map in the top left corner illustrates the snake’s distribution, with yellow areas indicating where it is found in southern Africa and black areas showing where it is absent. The human figure used for size reference is based on the average adult male, standing 1.7 meters tall.
Based on the Snake Card, we can see that the Cape Cobra is found in fynbos, desert, Karoo scrub, and savannas. Its range includes parts of Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, and Lesotho. It feeds on lizards, frogs, small rodents, other snakes, and birds, and it can grow longer than the average adult man.
What are reptiles?
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