KUCHING: A sizeable crowd of nearly 100 attended the ‘Snakes of Borneo’ talk held at UCSI University Sarawak Campus on Monday.
Sarawak Forestry biodiversity consultant Robert Stuebing spoke during this public awareness talk jointly organised by the Sarawak Biodiversity Centre and Malaysian Nature Society Kuching Branch.
Stuebing said there are nearly 160 species found in habitats ranging from the mountains to the seas in Borneo.
His talk was injected with witty humour as he explained the anatomy of snakes and how their venom works.
Stuebing, who lectured in vertebrate ecology and systematics in Malaysian universities from 1974 to 1992, also ran through a slide show of different snakes.
They included pythons, homalopsids, oligodons, wolf snakes, elapids or more commonly known as cobras and sea snakes.
The talk also provided an overview of the diversity and natural history of Bornean snakes.
Stuebing said knowledge of snakes will continue to grow as more species are discovered, with contributions from local herpetologists and expert photographers.
A research associate of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, the United States of America, Stuebing has authored two field guides, including one on the snakes of Borneo.