China ‘Snakeaholic’ dedicates life to studying, protecting snakes despite losing finger

Despite being bitten nine times and losing a finger to its venom, 77-year-old “Snake Doctor” Chen Yuanhui remains on the front lines of researching and protecting the Mangshan pit viper, the rare species he discovered 37 years ago. Originally from southern China’s Guangdong province, Chen graduated from a clinical college in central China’s Hunan province at the age of 19 and worked at a snakebite research centre. The centre was discontinued in 1982, but Chen chose not to pursue a conventional...