Italian pageant of the snake-catchers published in vibrant footage

Every 12 months on 1 May, San Domenico di Sora will get some spectacularly strange equipment. During a spiritual procession within the Italian village of Cocullo, a statue of the saint is embellished with risk free snakes (above). The origins of this festa dei serpari, or pageant of the snake-catchers, would possibly date again centuries.

Gianpaolo Montinaro, a biologist on the University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy, was once keen to check the snakes, nevertheless it took him years to persuade the villagers {that a} long-term analysis undertaking would lend a hand, quite than hurt, the reptiles. Legally, the serpari can most effective catch native snakes, corresponding to inexperienced whip snakes (Hierophis viridiflavus) and four-lined snakes (Elaphe quatuorlineata, proven best and beneath), within the weeks as much as the procession. Shortly after, the animals are launched (pictured backside) on the precise spot the place they have been discovered, which leaves little time for Montinaro and his staff to check them.

Before every procession, the researchers turn out to be the native museum right into a pop-up well being sanatorium for snakes. They measure every animal’s period and weight, take swabs and blood samples, and implant microchips to spot repeat guests. They additionally deal with wounds and take away parasites from the snakes’ our bodies and mouths (pictured above).

Almost 20 years’ value of information signifies the snakes are thriving, without a signal of a perilous fungal illness that has seemed in different European populations. We could gain advantage as smartly. “Snakes pick up microbes on the ground,” says Montinaro. “That helps us to look out for novel pathogens that could infect humans.”