Venoms and Toxins 2022: Snakebite photo competition

20 Sep 2022

In partnership with Venoms and Toxins 2022, the 9th international toxinology conference at Oxford (UK), we ran a photo competition to showcase the people, communities, activities, successes and challenges of snakebite and snakebite research.

Today, following International Snakebite Awareness Day which took place on 19 September 2022, we are delighted to announce the winning photo, as well as the two highly commended photos. We also share the photos which appeared in the top ten entries. 

The photo competition was an opportunity to showcase the people, communities, activities, successes and challenges of snakebite and snakebite research. 

The winning image, from Gnaneswar Chandrasekharun, won a RSTMH membership for one year and has the potential to feature on the cover of an issue of RSTMH’s journal.

Venoms and Toxins 2022, the 9th international toxinology conference at Oxford (UK), was held on 23 - 25 August 2022. 

Take a look at the gallery of photos below, and read more about how each photo came about here.

Click on image below to read caption.

  • Photo title: Shared landscapes Photo credit: Gnaneswar Ch Photo caption: Snakes are an important part of agrarian landscapes, as rodent controllers. Being an epicenter for snakebite, at least 58,000 people die in India annually. Russell's vipers are considered to contribute to most of these deaths but if they aren't provoked they cause no harm and can coexist peacefully as seen in the picture. The complexities in treatment, venom variation, and poor policies make it a nightmare for the victims. Preventive e
  • Photo title: A Mozambique spitting cobra defending itself by spitting venom Photo credit: Hiral Naik Photo caption: A Mozambique spitting cobra is spitting its venom as a defense mechanism towards any threat it experiences. The snake's instinct is to spit to defend itself.
  • Photo title: Kraits at Night Photo credit: Oliver G. Becker / Occasione Documentaries Photo caption: Bites by kraits are a leading cause of snakebite mortality in Southeast Asia. They typically occur at night, on sleeping people and cause neuromuscular paralysis. Kraits produce very small amounts of venom and have only short fangs to inject it. Thus, conventional ways of venom extraction are ineffective. In this photo, Prof. Md. Farid Ahsan (University of Chittagong) and Dr. Ulrich Kuch (Goethe University F
  • Photo title: The second before the snakebite Photo credit: Dr. B.J. Visser Photo caption: Can you discover the snake who is going to bite this farmer in his foot? This farmer, in the Ethiopian highlands, is working in wet, red volcanic red clay soils barefoot. This photo captures the moment just before the potential fatal snakebite. Snakebites are one of the main work-related health risk for farmers. It can be very challenging, even for experienced farmers, to recognize snakes in the field. Wearing shoes ca
  • Photo title: Invisible striker Photo credit: Daniel Jestrzemski Photo caption: The terciopelo or fer-de-lance (Bothrops asper) is one of Latin America's most medically important snake species, being responsible for the majority of severe human envenomings within its distribution range, and also affecting livestock. As a nocturnal ambush predator and important natural control of rodent populations, this highly venomous pitviper has an X-shaped dorsal coloration pattern which perfectly blends with the leaf li
  • Photo title: Textures in vipers Photo credit: Edgar Neri-Castro Photo caption: Close-up of a Atheris squamigera, a species of the genus Atheris. Species of this genus have a very showy strongly keeled scale pattern.
  • Photo title: Enemy friends Photo credit: Saad Alghamdi Photo caption: Baljurashi Governorate in the Al-Baha region in the south of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, above the Sarawat Mountains. A poisonous and strange Arab cobra appears in front of the hunter and above his head is his girlfriend, the Arab cobra, as she watches the hunter's dealings with the new cobra as he tries to deal with it gently and save it with love without using the iron stick so as not to harm it. (Translated from Arabic)
  • Photo title: Spooky surprise Photo credit: Girish Vilas Choure Photo caption: Coffee plantations of India are not only known for their rich quality coffee beans but also for these spectacularly camouflaged Craspedocephalus malabaricus or Malabar pit vipers. This snake species is highly venomous and their bites are clinically significant. Human beings economically dependent on coffee plantations for their livelihoods often suffer snake bites from Malabar pit vipers. While we might call this an attack, from t
  • Photo title: Large brown spitting cobra venom extraction Photo credit: Dr. Henry Emonje Photo caption: Pictured here is myself, an assistant research scientist and the senior herpetologist Mr. Geoffrey Maranga of the Kenya Snakebite Research and Intervention Centre (KSRIC). The photo was taken at the KSRIC herpetarium, Institute of Primate Research Nairobi - Kenya. In the photo, we are carrying out venom extraction from Naja ashei (the large brown spitting cobra) for purposes of snake venom characterization
  • Photo title: Human-Snake Conflict: Philippine temple pit viper with its head crushed by the victim Photo credit: Yoshihiro Aoki Photo caption: A 40-year-old male farmer brought the snake after being bitten by juvenile Tropidolaemus sabammulatus under a coconut tree in Leyte, the Philippines. Two fang marks were seen on the lateral side of his right ankle, but the patient did not develop any symptoms and signs of envenomation: a dry bite was suspected. Sadly, the beautiful green snake was killed and brought

The winners

The authors of the winning photos are as follows:

 

  1. Gnaneswar Chandrasekharun (Winning Photo)
  2. Hiral Naik (Highly Commended)
  3. Oliver G. Becker (Highly Commended)
  4. Benjamin Jelle Visser (Top 10)
  5. Daniel Jestrzemsk (Top 10)
  6. Edgar Neri (Top 10)
  7. Hamza Alghamdi (Top 10)
  8. Suyog Khochare (Top 10)
  9. Valentine Musabyimana (Top 10)
  10. Yoshihiro Aoki (Top 10)