The Crucial Role of Snakes

Around half of all humans on Earth feel uncomfortable or nervous around snakes, while 2-3% qualify as having ophidiophobia, or a fear of snakes (National Library of Medicine). Although snakes are often perceived as creepy, slithery creatures with large fangs and deadly venom, snakes are extremely crucial not only to the ecosystems they inhabit, but humans as well.

An Ecosystem All-Rounder

Snakes as a species are essential to the delicate balance of the various ecosystems that they inhabit. Snakes can function as prey to different types of birds, such as hawks, owls, falcons, and eagles. These predatory birds use snakes as a vital food source in woodlands, marshes, and grasslands. On the contrary, snakes can also behave as predators or even apex predators. Snakes are not always the apex predator, as it does depend on the ecosystem. Most snakes are known to eat rodents, toads, small birds, bird eggs, and insects in the wild. In some cases, larger species of snakes like pythons and anacondas can eat deer, goats, pigs, and even crocodiles. Some snakes, like cobras and rattlesnakes, use fatal venom to kill their prey. Other snakes, like boa constrictors and python, wrap around their prey’s body and squeeze them to death.

As seen in this example of a snake’s food web above, the snake consumes mice, frogs, and bird eggs. The hawks not only consume the snakes, but also eat the frogs and mice as well. The snakes are important to this food web as it helps to maintain the populations of the mice and frogs, and also provides energy for the hawks. In the absence of the snakes, the hawks are necessary to limit the populations of the primary consumers, which in this instance is the mice. The mice mainly feed on various plants, and with an excess of them, can harm the plants and foliage in the ecosystem. The role that snakes have in this ecosystem go hand-in-hand with the next main topic regarding the importance of snakes.

A Preventer of Disease

The reason why snakes are so crucial to our environment is mainly due to their diet. Snakes consume numerous common pests such as mosquitos, ticks, cockroaches, ants, spiders, mice, rats, and other rodents. If the snake population in the area is low or nonexistent, these common household pests can run rampant, annoying humans and the spread of diseases. Rats and mice often carry diseases like Hantavirus, Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis, Tularemia, and many more. In fact, the infamous Bubonic Plague (commonly known as the Black Death) was largely spread by mice and rats. On average, a medium-sized black rat snake can consume up to 192 mice every year (The Illinois Department of Natural Resources). Just one of these snakes can greatly limit how many of these dangerous diseases reach humans and their pets. Snakes can also feed on insects and bugs. Insects like mosquitoes and ticks often feed on the blood of infected animals, which can transmit vector-borne diseases like malaria, yellow fever, West Nile virus, and Lyme disease. These diseases can cause fevers, headaches, and even comas and death. The idea regarding the importance of snakes and their role in reducing the spread of disease is further explored in the graphs below.

This graph shows the global malaria deaths from the years 1980-2010. The cause of malaria is the Plasmodium parasite, which can be carried by mosquitoes. As seen in the above graph, there is a gradual increase in deaths among all age groups starting from 1980 and peaking at around 2004.

The African country of Nigeria reports the most malaria cases per year, at an average of approximately 51 million cases and 207,000 deaths. These numbers make up almost 30% of the total cases of Malaria in Africa (The National Library of Medicine). According to the top graph, the Rhinoceros Viper (Bitis nasicornis) population in Nigeria seriously declined in the years 1998-2003. Rhinoceros Vipers are crucial in eliminating disease-carrying mosquitoes in Nigeria, as a large majority of the Rhinoceros Viper’s diet consists of it. The Rhinoceros Viper population decline may not directly cause this increase in malaria cases, but it may be a significant factor. These pieces of evidence clearly show just how important snakes can be in reducing the spread of deadly diseases. 

While most people in our society today will still fear snakes, we should still be informed on why these slithery reptiles are so crucial to us. Although snakes can seriously injure humans, in many cases it is because the snake perceives the human as a threat. When encountering a snake, avoidance is often the best option. By understanding snakes and their important roles better, we can grasp a much better comprehension of our environment and the animals living inside of it. 

References

Beri, D., Bhaumik, S. (2021). Brown-colored snake in the wild [photograph]. Snakes, the ecosystem, and us: it’s time we change. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(12)60034-8/abstract

Murray, J., Rosenfeld, L., Lim, S., Andrews, K., Foreman, K., Haring, D. (2012). Global malaria cases among different age groups [graph]. Global malaria mortality between 1980 and 2010: a systematic analysis. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(12)60034-8/abstract

Photo, C. (2021, March 19). While feared among many, snakes important to environment. Army.mil. Retrieved November 14, 2024, from http://army.mil/article/244488/while_feared_among_many_snakes_important_to_environment

Polák, J., Sedláčková, K., Nácar, D., Landová, E., & Frynta, D. (2016, August 30). Fear the serpent: A psychometric study of snake phobia. PubMed. Retrieved November 14, 2024, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27280527/

Reading, C, Luiselli, L,. Akani, G., Bonnet, X,. Amori, G,. Ballouard, J., Filippi, E., Naulleau, G., Pearson, D,. Rugiero, L. (2010). Various snake species over the years [graph]. Are snake populations in widespread decline? https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3001371/

[Untitled diagram of tropical rainforest food web]. Tropical Rainforest Biome. https://dlampingtropicalrainforest.weebly.com/uploads/5/1/5/0/51504045/6237169_orig.png

Wondifraw, B. T., Tamene, M. Y., & Simegn, A. B. (2021, August 12). Assessment of crop damage by rodent pests from experimental barley crop fields in Farta District, South Gondar, Ethiopia. PubMed Central. Retrieved November 14, 2024, from http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8360600