Australia has one of the largest and greatest National Park systems in the world, with almost 8% of its entire land under protection. Second only to Yellowstone National Park in the USA, the Royal National Park in New South Wales is one of the oldest in the world. This book is a personal tribute to the thousands of conservationists, scientists, community groups and yes, even the politicians, who had the foresight, determination and courage to forever protect these special places from exploitation and abuse.

The book covers all the groups of Australian snakes. Where identification features are of particular interest they are provided, and key pointers offer hints to general diagnostic aspects. People are generally most interested in whether a snake is harmful, or what unusual habits it has, so within each family the genera are grouped together on the basis of how we relate to them, their ecology or other behavioural traits.