LESS than 1000 broad-headed snakes are believed to be left in the world, and you can see two of them in a new display at the Nowra Wildlife Park.

The venomous snake is a local species finding habitat under flat sandstone rocks on exposed cliff edges and in tree hollows.

Its markings can lead to a case of potentially fatal mistaken identity with the similar-looking but harmless juvenile diamond python.

Nowra Wildlife Park owner Nick Schilko decided to establish the endangered snake display to show residents and visitors to the area what they could lose.

“The significant thing about broad-heads is that in winter they depend on the rock pieces that crack away for shelter,” Mr Schilko said.

“Those are the same pieces of bush-rock that people take for their gardens and the snakes in the Nowra area are heavily affected by people removing bush-rock.”

Mr Schilko said while he would like to be able to breed broad-heads in captivity, that was not the point of his display.

“I don’t think zoos should be thinking of ourselves as Noahs Ark.

“The point is to share the animals and their plight with everyone so that as a community we can make a difference,” he said.

“We could never breed enough of them, our function is to educate the people and encourage them to help the species.

“As a community we need to preserve their habitat,” Mr Schilko said.