About: James Reid

I’ve never been particularly comfortable talking about myself or the work that I do, which in many respects makes me an unusual champion for this cause. One of the reasons why I avoid social gatherings is my unease at having to explain to people I meet what I do, and why I do it. Of  Continue Reading »

I am medical officer working in a rural pastoralist community in Baringo County, Kenya. I first came across snakebite cases during my pre-registration internship in 2012. Having grown up in the capital city of Kenya, Nairobi, I was intrigued that in fact snakebite was a public health issue. I was further shocked to find that  Continue Reading »

My story is as simple as, “I really like snakes”. I grew up in a part of the world with very few reptile species, let alone anything venomous. Instead, I fed my interest with childhood TV programmes like Crocodile Hunter and Kratt’s Creatures. As I grew older, I accepted that I would never make a  Continue Reading »

In my years doing fieldwork, some people in rural communities have taught me that negative attitudes towards snakes can be diminished as they discover fascinating aspects of these reptiles’ natural history. Early on my career as a biologist, this fascination also led me to pursue a specialization in the study of venomous animals, their toxins  Continue Reading »

My name is Naoual Oukkache and I specialize in venomous animals and their venoms. There are about 500,000 venomous animal species on earth (snakes, scorpions, spiders, bees, wasps, sea anemones, urchins, marine snails to name a few). Each species has a different venom, aiming at prey capture and defense. While one may think the venom  Continue Reading »