An indigenous community in India saves 50,000 lives annually by catching snakes
The Irular people of India utilize ancient tracking skills to capture venomous snakes, providing the essential raw materials for antivenom production that saves approximately 50,000 lives every single year.
The Irular community, indigenous hunter-gatherers from India's Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, possesses a 5,000-year-old tradition of mastering snake venom extraction. By harvesting venom from kraits and vipers using only bare hands and cloth sacks, they provide the primary source for life-saving antivenom nationwide. Their expertise is so refined that they can spot camouflaged prey from 10 meters away in low-light conditions thanks to unique genetic adaptations honed over millennia in rainforest understories.
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