Tom Charlton

Tom Charlton is a British herpetologist currently dividing his time between the United Kingdom and Central Province, Papua New Guinea, where he is a fauna specialist in a snakebite mitigation programme. Back home in the UK, Tom works with several expedition and wilderness medicine training providers to develop and present specialist lectures on snakebite first aid and snakebite mitigation strategies for medics working overseas. In 2012 he founded Eco Animal Encounters Ltd, offering herpetofauna-related educational workshops, wildlife photography courses, and consultancy and field assistance for wildlife documentaries. He has worked as an ecological consultant both in the UK and Queensland, Australia.

For many years Tom’s interests have been largely with the herpetofauna of Southeast Asia, in particular its snakes. First visiting Malaysia in 2004, he has travelled the country extensively over numerous visits to both West Malaysia and Borneo. In 2015, he was tasked with providing field assistance for the production of a wildlife documentary on Peninsular Malaysia’s venomous snakes, filming in the states of Selangor, Pahang, Penang and Kedah. He is the author of the book King Cobra: Natural History and Captive Management, published by Natural History Publications (Borneo) in January 2018.