Such snakes are giants. The black mamba can stretch to 14 feet and the largest king cobra ever recorded was 19 feet.
In contrast, puffins are petite, as little as 6 inches and no longer than six feet, but very fat. They have long, retractable fangs that can deliver venom into muscles.
Their venom destroys blood clotting factors and victims die slow, gruesome deaths, bleeding to the brain, eyes and mouth.
Identifying the invader can help tailor treatment. But many people never see the snake biting them, or if they do, they can’t identify it. To the untrained eye, venomous snakes can appear indistinguishable from harmless ones.
Names don’t make it any easier. Green mambas are green, but black mambas are light gray to dark brown. so called because the inside of the mouth is black. They are best recognized by their coffin-shaped head and incredible smile.
Some scientists are building artificial intelligence models to recognize snakes so that anyone with a smartphone can spot them.
About a third of snakebites are to children. They occur less often in pregnant women, but the results – which include spontaneous abortion, placental abruption, abruption, fetal malformations and death for both mother and fetus – can be devastating.
Often the victims are farmers. The loss of a breadwinner destroys families.
Ruth Munuve’s husband worked as a driver in Nairobi and returned home to the family farm every other weekend. He was bitten on a Saturday in April 2020, aged 42, while walking through the brush on his way home from a night out.
Two hospitals trying to treat Covid patients turned him away. When he died two days later, his body was swollen and doubled, typical of a blowtorch bite, said his sister, Esther Nziu.
Mrs Munuve now grows maize and peas, mainly for food, and sells green gram. Ms Nziu has five children of her own but does what she can to help raise her brother’s four children.
Money is tight, but the women still paid to fortify the house. “I don’t want anyone else to get bitten by snakes,” said Ms. Nziu.
