A close friend is one of the world's top venomous snake experts. He says that the majority of rattlesnake bites in the US are to young men playing with them to impress young women. Needless to say, most of the time drink has been taken.

The most common poisonous snake where I work in Kenya is the puff adder, and the ones around here are unusually large - a big female can be six feet long and a foot across. They are well camouflaged and very sluggish, easy to step on in long grass. Same friend was describing their hemotoxic venom, evolved in part to digest large prey like bunnies from the inside. His memorable description was "If one bites you, an hour later you can pour your leg into a bucket." Between puff adders, buffalo and elephants, a walk in the bush keeps you awake. However, although I have lost a number of friends to buffalo and one just last month to an elephant, the only puff adder death I recall was ... a foolish young man playing with one.