It’s unsurprising why most of the people in this world are suffering from Ophidiophobia. It is a phobia that refers to the fear of snakes. I am also one among those who fear snakes but on the other side I am too curious to know and see this wonderful yet scary creature from bit close to know its habitat, behavior and how dangerous or beautiful they are. Till some extent I am thankful to discovery and national geographic TV channels which helped clearing many myths, I had about snakes. However, I still thought to dig more about snakes and finally I turned towards social networks to see how many people I can find who are interested in talking about snakes.
Indeed, I found many groups, fan pages and online communities on many social networks but the only virtual community which impressed me is Snake community on orkut.com. Though, it is not hyperactive like other orkut communities but I found some really remarkable user generated content which can be a great source of information for people who love snakes, studying about snakes or just want to make friends with people who are friend of snakes.
With more than 8000 members, Snake community on orkut is one of the active and one of the biggest communities related to reptiles I found. Credit goes to the creator Adam Dawson, a professional dangerous animal handler from Austin, United States. With mostly Indian members, Snakes on orkut is best place to experience the true and beautiful side of snakes.
I never knew that reticulated python is the longest snake and anaconda is the heaviest and largest. Black mamba in Africa is the fastest snake on our planet that speeds upto 15mile / hr, Anaconda is a non venomous snake, king cobras are the only snake species that build nests for laying their eggs. I came to know all this while reviewing this community; I appreciate the contribution of members in making a large resource base for almost everything about snakes, their life and how was their own experience with snakes, discussions and debates on many rare snake species.
Though there are many interesting threads in the forum but I enjoyed reading the species of different snakes in one thread started by an active member named Jigar. However, it is for fun but it also helped members improving there so called “SNAKITIONARY”. It was the first time I read Malayan Pit Viper, Wolf Snake, Puff Ader, Cotton Mouth Snake and Naja naja.
Another good and important thread I came across in this forum is where members are discussing on ways to handle snakes with responsibility and maturity so that they can save both snake and themselves while dealing with it. With this thread I learnt that it’s very important to know how to behave with snakes whoever comes across it. As a human being it’s our duty to protect other living beings but unfortunately we often misuse our power and intelligence and harm snakes or sometimes get harmed by snakes.
If you are passionate about snakes or you just want to know about this one of the most mysterious reptiles on planet than Snakes on orkut social network is best place to meet both snakes lovers and also some really beautiful snakes.
It’s not easy to judge the potential of social networking and online communities; however snakes community on orkut is just another great example of positive and constructive use of social networking. An online community like this is also helpful in motivating and inspiring people to love and respect snakes.
