Snakes form a key link in the food chain. They act as predators, and as prey. They help maintain a healthy ecosystem and environment. Snakes use their highly-developed senses of sight, taste, hearing and touch to locate, recognize and track their prey. Some snakes use a lethal dose of venom, modified saliva, to paralyse and kill their prey while others use their powerful muscular bodies to squeeze their prey to death. Below is a list of snakes found in Akagera National Park.
PUFF ADDER (Bitis arietans)
Nocturnal, found all over the park. The body is yellow-brown to light brown, with black, pale-edged chevrons on the back and bars on the tail. The Puff Adder is responsible for more bites and fatalities in Africa than any other snake due to its habit of not moving away from approaching footsteps, instead blowing out air as a warning, hence the name. Puff adder feeds on Rodents, sometimes birds and even other snakes.
HERALD OR RED LIPPED SNAKE (Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia)
Nocturnal, found close to wetlands. The Red Lipped Snake is a small snake with a broad, obvious head and a short tail. The scales are in 19 rows at mid body and are dull; the head is iridescent when the skin is freshly shed. The back is olive to green-black above. The head is iridescent blue-black in colour. It feeds at night on amphibians.
RHOMBIC EGG-EATER (Dasypeltis scabra)
The Rhombic Egg-Eater is a slender, solid snake with a small, rounded head. The tail is short; males have shorter tails. The back is slate-grey, light brown or olive-brown, with a median series of dark, squarish blotches flanked by narrow dark bars. It is found all over the park, hunts for bird’s eggs at night. Eggs are swallowed whole into the neck region and then cracked using bony projections below the vertebrate, the shell crushed, the contents swallowed and the remains of the egg shell regurgitated in a neat little package.
BLACK MAMBA (Dendroaspis polylepis)
The notorious Black mamba is often said to be the deadliest snake in the world and with good reason. It is a large and active snake that will move quite fast with as much as a third of its body off the ground. It is diurnal and found all over the park. The black mamba is named for the colour of the inside of its mouth, which is black. This is clearly displayed when it is threatened. The body is Grey and not black. Black mamba venom is highly toxic. Two drops of venom can kill a person and a mamba can have up to 20 drops in its fangs.
BROWN HOUSE SNAKE (Lamprophis capensis)
Nocturnal, found all over the park. Most individuals are medium to dark brown with a mother-of-pearl belly and two light lines on either side of the head – one from the nose through the top of the eye to the back of the head and the other from the back of the eye to the angle of the jaw.
BLACK NECKED SPITTING COBRA (Naja nigricolli )
Nocturnal, Found all over the park. Thick pitch- black body, Will raise a large hood if threatened and spit venom, also once threatened it will not hesitate to strike. It is an opportunistic hunter and feeds on rodents, birds, frogs, lizards and other snakes, including the Black Mamba.
SPOTTED BUSH SNAKE (Philothamnus semivariegatus)
Diurnal found all over the park. The Spotted Bush Snake is a very slender snake with a flat, distinct head and a long tail. The body is bright green to olive, usually with dark spots on the bars on the forebody, becoming grey-bronze towards the rear. The head is green or blue-green. The spotted bush snake does not have any venom glands, well it is harmless to human
Spotted bush snake
AFRICAN ROCK PYTHON (Python sebae)
Nocturnal, Mostly found close by water. The African Rock Python is Africa’s largest snake. There is a large spearhead mark on the crown of the head; dark and light bands radiating from eye to lip. The body is grey-green/-brown, with dark-brown, black-edged bars and blotches on top. It feeds on small antelope, monkeys, fish, monitor lizards and crocodiles also eaten. The African Rock Python is non-venomous, rather kills its prey by constriction.
African rock phyton
https://www.africansnakebiteinstitute.com/
https://africageographic.com/blog/spotted-bush-snake-enjoys-a-frog-for-breakfast/