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Patchier, More Diverse Landscapes Were Linked to More Reported Snake–Human Encounters in Eswatini

Spotted bush snake on a wooden structure
Conservation · Human–wildlife conflict

Reported snake–human encounters in Eswatini were more common in landscapes broken into many smaller patches and containing a greater mixture of land-use types, according to a study first published on 17 June 2026. Researchers analysed 2,216 public requests for snake removal or rescue between July 2020 and June 2024, involving 48 species. These records document encounters that were reported to the rescue programme; they are not a complete census of every snake–human encounter and they are not a dataset of snakebites.

Large and medically important snakes were prominent in the rescue records

The most frequently reported species were Naja mossambica (13.2% of records), Dendroaspis polylepis (11.8%) and Boaedon capensis (10.7%), followed by southern African python (Python natalensis; 9.3%) and Dasypeltis typus (8.9%). Spotted bush snake (Philothamnus semivariegatus) and puff adder (Bitis arietans) each accounted for just over 7% of reports. Five highly medically important venomous species among the eight most frequently reported snakes together made up about 48.7% of all recorded encounters.

The rescue records are also vulnerable to reporting bias. Large, conspicuous or medically important snakes may be more likely to prompt a removal request, while small, secretive or burrowing species can be under-represented. The species percentages therefore describe the rescue dataset rather than an unbiased census of snake abundance in Eswatini.

Landscape pattern mattered most within 500 metres

The strongest landscape associations were measured within a 500-metre buffer around each reported encounter and weakened at 1- and 2-kilometre scales. Patch density describes how many separate land-use patches occur within an area: a higher value means a more finely divided or fragmented landscape. Land-use diversity describes how many different land-use types occur and how evenly space is distributed among them. The likelihood of a reported rescue encounter increased with both greater patch density and greater land-use diversity.

The patch-density relationship was broadly similar across human population densities. The association with land-use diversity was different: it became weaker at very high population density, where landscapes were already heavily dominated by human land use. Similar overall landscape relationships appeared when highly medically important venomous snakes and species of lower medical importance were analysed separately.

Reports peaked in the warm, wet season

Reported encounters also varied strongly through the year, peaking from November to April and becoming much less frequent during the cooler, drier months. In raw numbers, natural savanna accounted for 36% of reports, settlements 29%, grasslands 13% and rainfed agricultural fields 12%. Raw shares are not the same as encounter intensity, however, because land-use types cover very different amounts of Eswatini. Relative to their availability in the landscape, settlements and tree-crop areas had the highest ratios of reported snake encounters.

The authors conclude that increasing landscape fragmentation and heterogeneity can enlarge the interfaces where people and snakes come into contact. They therefore argue that land-use planning and snakebite-prevention strategies should consider not only how much natural habitat remains, but also how natural and human-modified land is arranged. Because the study is based on reported rescue encounters rather than an experiment, the landscape relationships identify where encounters are more likely to be reported; they do not show that fragmentation alone caused each encounter.

Sources and image credit

  1. Padidar, S., Fletcher, R. J., Jr., Dlamini, W. M., Litschka-Koen, T., & Monadjem, A. (2026). Landscape heterogeneity is an important predictor of snake–human encounters in Eswatini. Journal of Applied Ecology, 63(6), e70450. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.70450Primary open-access research article first published 17 June 2026. The study analysed 2,216 snake–human encounters involving 48 species across Eswatini from July 2020 to June 2024 and found increased encounter probability with landscape patchiness and compositional heterogeneity, with strongest support at a 500-metre scale.

Image: Bernard Dupont / Wikimedia Commons / Flickr — spotted bush snake (Philothamnus semivariegatus) photographed at Matambeni Bird Hide near Letaba in Kruger National Park, South Africa, 5 December 2010; representative image of one study species, not an animal from the Eswatini dataset. · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source

About this content: This story was produced with AI assistance within an editorial workflow developed by Wildlife Vagabond. Editorial responsibility remains with Wildlife Vagabond.How AI is used

Human–wildlife conflict

SPECIES IN THIS STORY

Species in this story

Southern African Python Python natalensis Explore species Spotted Bush Snake Philothamnus semivariegatus Explore species Puff Adder Bitis arietans Explore species

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