FOS Develops Predictive Model to Forecast Snake Activity

Hyderabad: Hyderabad-based Friends of Snakes Society (FOS) is likely to launch, within two months a live forecast system for snake activity, which, it says, can help create awareness among people to watch out for possible snake sightings, and help in reducing snakebite cases.

FOS general secretary Avinash C. Visvanathan said the society is currently using the forecast system, based on 35,234 rescue dispatches recorded in Telangana during 2024 and 2025.

These records were then matched, using a machine learning model, with hourly weather conditions and information about sunlight.

The snake activity and encounter patterns identified by the model were then checked against new rescue records this year, he said.

Currently, the forecast model covers 72 locations within the Outer Ring Road and is being used internally by FOS to alert its members to possible rescue calls, Visvanathan told Deccan Chronicle.

“The model we developed has so far produced reliable and actionable results. We have found that weather-based snake activity forecasts are 90 per cent accurate.

We eventually hope to reach a stage where we can forecast snake activity with forecasts extending up to 15 days,” Visvanathan said.

“We presented our weather-based machine learning model on Sunday at the First World Congress on Snakes in Kandy, Sri Lanka.

An hourly forecast could help people take additional precautions during periods of increased snake activity, while allowing rescue teams to prepare for increased demand,” Visvanathan said.

As the FOS prepares to make its forecast model public, Visvanathan said FOS also plans to expand the model to provide hourly snake-encounter forecasts across India.

“We also want to explore how these forecasts can help health services plan antivenom stocks by using the forecasts alongside local snakebite data,” he said.