Snakepedia app presents information on snake bites; analyses first aid, treatment myths

A team of scientists, doctors and photographers in Kerala have come up with a mobile application that could now aid doctors while treating snake bites. Named “Snakepedia”, the app presents information on snakes along with photographs, infographics and podcasts. It also analyses its first aid, treatment, myths and superstitions.

Over 300 species in India

India is home to over 300 species of snakes, of which 60 are venomous and medically relevant. Every year, scores of people are brought to hospitals for snake bites. Now, with the advent of this applications, snakes behind the bites could be identified, which would eventually better the treatment meted out to the patient, ANI reported citing Sandeep Das from Zoological Society of London.  

"Among 300 species of snakes, about 100 are known from Kerala who belong to 12 different families. Over 700 pictures of these are included with up to 20 photographs of various colour morphs for some snakes. These photographs were taken by more than 130 people inside and outside the state. This includes researchers, wildlife enthusiasts and photographers," Das said explaining the application.

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Naveenalal Payyeri and Dr Jinesh, who are both a part of the team that developed the app said that Snakepedia was developed as an answer to the question of how to find a useful way for the general public to identify snakes. They further revealed that it was mostly offline app with all features except for podcast and online help available without an internet connection. "It also has an online helpline menu for identification of snakes. Mostly this is an offline app. All features except podcast and online ID helpline are offline," they said. The application is available in Google Play for Android users. 

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Similar apps

SAPRA is an application developed by Wildlife Trust of India. It was launched in Kerala by Forest department of Thrissur district and helps officials find and rescue snakes that enter into human habitations. Another previously launched app is SnakeHub, which is also a free online database on snake species. All the apps are available for free of cost download.