A view on human perception of snakes in Serbia with special reference to nose-horned viper
Authors/Creators
- 1. Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics, University of Niš, Višegradska 33, 18 000 Niš, Serbia
- 2. Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics, University of Niš, Višegradska 33, 18 000 Niš, Serbia Department of Evolutionary Biology, Institute for Biological Research "Siniša Stanković", University of Belgrade, Despota Stefana 142, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
Description
Snakes are frequently misunderstood and ill-perceived animals. Having in mind the frequent killings of snakes near villages in Serbia as their habitats coincide with agricultural land, we administered questionnaire to the local inhabitants at several localities to evaluate human perception of the snakes with a special reference to Vipera ammodytes. We interviewed 87 individuals where the majority (68%) were men of age 65 and older. We classified responses to eight different topics: attitude, knowledge, awareness, folklore, knowledge about nose-horned vipers, possible threats to the vipers, direct killings and snakebite incidence. Younger age groups of the respondents (18-24 and 25-34) had positive attitude and more knowledge about snakes while other age groups were ambivalent. Further, gender groups were also ambivalent. Almost half (45%) of respondents recognized V. ammodytes, but 36% stated that this viper “jumps and attacks” humans, and majority of respondents (61%) perceived this species as aggressive. Regarding these results, we have proposed possible conservation measures.