Explore the vast range of titles available.

Snakes are commonly associated with feelings of anxiety or disgust, and snake conservation is often hindered by negative attitudes and perceptions. Although global snake populations are generally in decline, snakebite envenomation (SBE) continues to be recognized as a serious public health issue, particularly in rural areas of tropical and subtropical countries. Data on SBE, a neglected tropical disease, are lacking, and Indonesia, a hotspot of venomous snake diversity, has no snake bite reporting system. We analyzed 127 survey results in Banten, Indonesia with the aim of documenting SBE and exploring the relationships between respondents’ experiences, attitudes, and behaviors toward snakes. Nine percent of respondents had experienced SBE, and knowledge of SBE incidents was associated with negative attitudes toward snake populations, with negative attitudes toward snakes associated with a higher likelihood of anti-conservation behavior. Women were more fearful than men, and women and those with lower education levels were more negative toward pythons (Malayopython reticulatus), suggesting that increased knowledge may aid in snake conservation efforts. Universally negative risk beliefs and attitudes toward venomous snakes indicate a need to reduce the threat of SBE in our study area.

Social taboos have been increasingly recognized for their role in determining human behaviour. Such informal institutions may also, in some instances, guide practices that serve as effective conservation measures. Here we present a case in Banten, Indonesia, where a local taboo has discouraged the collection of two herpetofaunal species, the water monitor lizard Varanus salvator and the reticulated python Python reticulatus, on Tinjil Island, an undeveloped island off the coast of Java. The taboo is not observed in the nearby mainland villages of Muara Dua and Cisiih, where the two species may be harvested for skin or meat, and where the water monitor may also be killed as a pest. Water monitors and reticulated pythons figure prominently in the international reptile leather trade, with skins produced from Indonesia's wild populations representing the highest percentage of total global exports of both lizard and snake skins. The site-specific taboo documented here provides a strong deterrent to collection of these species in a location where they could be subject to illicit harvest as populations in nearby mainland areas decrease. Preliminary evidence also suggests that belief in forest guardian spirits may extend protection to other wildlife species on Tinjil Island.

Lead poisoning is an important conservation concern for wildlife, and scavenging birds are especially at risk from consumption of carcasses of animals killed with lead ammunition. Because current methods to identify lead exposure require animal capture and blood collection, management would benefit from the development of a less costly and noninvasive behavioral test for illness in wild animals. We attempted to design such a test to identify lead exposure in California condors (Gymnogyps californianus) that we tracked with global positioning system (GPS) telemetry in southern California, USA, 2013–2016. We measured blood-lead concentrations in tracked birds and expected that flight behavior would be influenced by lead exposure; thus, we measured the effect of blood-lead concentrations on 2 different types of movement rates and on the proportion of time condors spent in flight. We found no effect of lead exposure on any of these 3 behavioral metrics. Our work suggests that the measurements we took of flight behaviors were not a useful tool in predicting lead exposure in the mildly to moderately exposed birds we studied. Wild birds are effective at hiding illness, especially condors who have a strong social hierarchy in which showing weakness is a disadvantage. However, focusing on behaviors other than flight, expanding the sample studied to include birds with a wider range of lead concentration values, or analyzing tissues such as feathers (rather than, or in addition to, blood) may be more useful for identification of lead exposure and other diseases that may limit wildlife populations.

The water monitor lizard, Varanus salvator, is a large, ecologically flexible species commonly found in areas of human disturbance throughout its Southeast Asian range. The presence of anthropogenic resource subsidies may influence V. salvator behavior in such areas, potentially altering the social structure, ranging activity, and space use of this species. Overlapping human and V. salvator activity areas also create the potential for increased human-V. salvator conflict. We used behavioral observations and radio-telemetry to study V. salvator in an area of regular anthropogenic subsidy in Banten, Indonesia. We also conducted interviews with area residents to document local knowledge and to identify concerns regarding local herpetofauna. On Tinjil Island, Indonesia, we observed a higher incidence of intraspecific encounters among V. salvator in a human-subsidized area than in areas where animals foraged naturally. A greater number of agonistic interactions was also observed in the presence of food when compared to those in the absence of food. Our data suggest that on Tinjil Island a dominance hierarchy exists among V. salvator frequenting the area of anthropogenic subsidy. In addition, V. salvator activity areas appeared smaller in the dry season than in the wet season, when the island’s natural water and prey resources were more abundant. Similarly, V. salvator on the island showed increased use away from areas of anthropogenic subsidy in the wet season only. Through the interview process we learned that a local taboo prohibits the collection of V. salvator and Python reticulatus on Tinjil Island, but that the taboo is not observed in the nearby mainland villages, Muara Dua and Cisiih. In the villages, V. salvator is mainly considered a pest, but the meat of this species is also consumed for medicinal purposes. In our study V. salvator behavior in human-subsidized areas differed from that observed in wildland areas but varied temporally, indicating that anthropogenic subsidies may be more important for this population in the dry season when natural resources are less available. A location-specific taboo, official regulations, and anthropogenic subsidy serve to protect and maintain Tinjil Island’s V. salvator population. However, in nearby Muara Dua and Cisiih, local use for medicinal purposes and concerns over livestock depredation could lead to increased harvest and persecution of this species.