There is a popular Irish myth involving St Patrick. According to legend, he chased all the snakes out of Ireland. Apparently he really hated snakes - which is odd, because he is also said to be the patron saint of snakes.
So far, no saint has come forward to claim the lack of snakes in New Zealand as their responsibility, but Australia has more than enough snakes for both countries (and Ireland, come to think of it), so perhaps we took their quota.
So, in honour of St Patrick's day, we'd like to celebrate the snakes of Australia (it makes sense - just go with it).
Reptiles and amphibians of Australia, by Harold G Cogger.
This CSIRO eBook is chock full of colour photographs, diagrams and descriptions to help you identify and understand various reptiles and amphibians of Australia.
The snakes are towards the end of the book (the first few chapters concentrate on frogs and toads, turtles and tortoises, and lizards).
So far, no saint has come forward to claim the lack of snakes in New Zealand as their responsibility, but Australia has more than enough snakes for both countries (and Ireland, come to think of it), so perhaps we took their quota.
So, in honour of St Patrick's day, we'd like to celebrate the snakes of Australia (it makes sense - just go with it).
Reptiles and amphibians of Australia, by Harold G Cogger.This CSIRO eBook is chock full of colour photographs, diagrams and descriptions to help you identify and understand various reptiles and amphibians of Australia.
The snakes are towards the end of the book (the first few chapters concentrate on frogs and toads, turtles and tortoises, and lizards).
Australian snakes: a pictorial guide, by Belinda Edwards.
This book contains full colour photographs of over forty commonly found snakes, and provides a guide to prevention of snake bites (and first-aid treatment, for when the prevention doesn't work). Offers general information about snakes' feeding habits, breeding and habitation.
Print book, held at 597.960994 EDW.
The snakes of Australia : an illustrated and descriptive catalogue of all the known species, by Gerard Krefft.
This is a 1984 reprint of a 1869 book. It may not list all the known species of snakes in Australia... And it doesn't have any colour photographs at all.
It does have some very nice biological drawings, though.
Print book, held at 597.960994 KRE.
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