ChubbyChecker posted:

No snake does that.

Tias posted:

I heard the green krait (as opposed to the banded krait) was used because it will attack without provocation?

feedmegin posted:

I mean, why would any snake attack a creature much larger than itself without provocation, as a general habit? What's in it for the snake?

Tias posted:

I heard the green krait (as opposed to the banded krait) was used because it will attack without provocation?

Tias posted:

I heard the green krait (as opposed to the banded krait) was used because it will attack without provocation?

quote:

The Sri Lankan krait is nocturnal and timid. It is very slow and sluggish by day. At night it may strike after considerable provocation, but behaves quite the contrary by day, often allowing itself to be handled or even bullied with impunity. During such rough treatment it usually does nothing but puff up its lung to display its discomfort.

JcDent posted:

Reading up on kraits in Wikipedia, I have come to the conclusion that you'd have to be Charles I of England to get one to bite you.

The Lone Badger posted:

The taipan has a reputation here of chasing people down to bite them, but I can't tell you if that's true.

feedmegin posted:

I mean, why would any snake attack a creature much larger than itself without provocation, as a general habit? What's in it for the snake?

HEY GUNS posted:

that snake is basically me

JcDent posted:

Snake lacks a pike.

GotLag posted:

Making venom is metabolically expensive for the snake, isn't it?

The Lone Badger posted:

Yes. To the point that sometimes an annoyed snake will bite someone/something to make it's point but won't inject actual venom.

ChubbyChecker posted:

My theory is that snakes have a bad reputation in the Western countries because Christianity has vilified them. There are people here who know about other cultural spheres, do snakes have a bad rep elsewhere?

JcDent posted:

Snake lacks a pike.

Jobbo_Fett posted:

Snakes are basically pikes if you think about it

thatbastardken posted:

provocation is the key word, although for a taipan 'looking at me, pal' is sufficient provocation.

ChubbyChecker posted:

My theory is that snakes have a bad reputation in the Western countries because Christianity has vilified them. There are people here who know about other cultural spheres, do snakes have a bad rep elsewhere?

HEY GUNS posted:

in classical greece there were "house snakes" which were small, non-poisonous, and ate mice. they didn't have cats yet, those were introduced to europe during classical roman times

zoux posted:

There's pretty good evidence that humans are born with a fear of snakes.

ChubbyChecker posted:

That article says that infants are good at recognizing snakes and spiders, not that they fear them.

Geisladisk posted:

The researcher is quoted as saying that they exhibited a strong stress response, which is fancy academic speak for fear.

Spiders and snakes are tiny crawly things that hide in tall grass, and in most parts of the world a sizable portion of them are dangerous. It makes sense to me that we'd have evolved a instinctual aversion them.

quote:

She noted that it's difficult to characterize the exact nature of the type of stress infants experienced, but dilated pupils show heightened states of arousal and mental processing. Rather than indicating fear in particular, the study says this shows an intense focus.

quote:

When inhabitants encounter snakes it usually happens accidentally during their daily activities as, for example, while they are working in the field, when traveling to other towns or when snakes wander into their homes or wander the surroundings, and when they find a snake, they usually kill it. A great part of the interviewees (n = 36), mentioned sacrificing snakes because they are harmful, aggressive and poisonous. Most of the villagers mentioned that snakes are killed with a knife, and the animal is taken far away so that the bones do not infect a passer barefoot, or they also tend to put the snake inside a sack once it’s dead, being very careful with its fangs because of the poison. If the snake they encounter is Boa imperator or Bothrops asper, they use the skin, but if it’s any other species, they dispose of it far away. Snakes are also sacrificed by using a stick stick and beating their head directly, and after they do this they usually hang the snake from a tree or throw it of a cliff so that no one has any risk of harm, as they mention that vertebrae can be dangerous, rotting the skin of the persons who have direct contact with them.

quote:

Results indicated that 43 % of respondents disliked snakes, 49 % would exterminate all venomous snakes, and 86 % feared snakes. Farmers were the most negative and teachers were the most ambivalent towards snakes. Respondents were generally unable to identify different snake species, and were almost completely unaware of the need of conserve snakes and how to prevent snakebites. Belief in a snake god, and the ability of snakes to absorb poisonous gases from the atmosphere were among many superstitions that appeared to predispose negativity towards snakes of BZ residents. Conclusion People with predisposed negativity towards snakes were not proponents of snake conservation. Fear, negativity, ambivalence towards, and ignorance about, snakes and the need for snake conservation were strong indicators of the propensity to harm or kill snakes. It seems that if wanton killing of snakes continues, local snake populations will decline, and rare and endangered snake species may even become locally extirpated. Moreover, inappropriate perception and knowledge about snakes and snakebites may put BZ people at increased risk of venomous snakebite

Groda posted:

Fangz posted:

heres a few hundred pictures of snakes with tits proving we are evolutionarily adapted to want to gently caress snakes,

Fangz posted:

The researcher is quoted as specifically saying this does not have to equal fear.


And the article notes other studies have contradicted this finding.

zoux posted:

Interesting that belief in a snake god made people MORE likely to dislike snakes.

zoux posted:

Starting to think that you're secretly a snake

ChubbyChecker posted:

hisssss

and snakes aren't poisonous, they're safe to eat

The Wikiest of Pedias posted:

The colloquial term "poisonous snake" is generally an incorrect label for snakes. A poison is inhaled or ingested, whereas venom produced by snakes is injected into its victim via fangs.[56] There are, however, two exceptions: Rhabdophis sequesters toxins from the toads it eats, then secretes them from nuchal glands to ward off predators, and a small unusual population of garter snakes in the U.S. state of Oregon retains enough toxins in their livers from the newts they eat to be effectively poisonous to small local predators (such as crows and foxes)

Pharmaskittle posted:

C'mon guys, snakes are so cute with their little boops and snoots and bleps

*entire house smells like piss*

ChubbyChecker posted:

No snake does that.

bewbies posted:

some book i read insisted the fer de lance would come after people. this is the upper limit of my knowledge about snake aggression.

zoux posted:

Here's a study of a group of Nahua people in Central Mexico about snakes


And Nepal


Interesting that belief in a snake god made people MORE likely to dislike snakes.

Vincent Van Goatse posted:

No, there are actual poisonous snakes.

Squalid posted:

Deadly viper on left, almost harmless Colubridae on right. If you can't tell which is which at a glance treating them all the same is safe strategy.

quote:

Gosh I love the rhabdophis genus so much! They all have adorable rainbow scales to telegraph their poison and big puppy-dog eyes. They're usually really sweet too.



They are uh actually really venomous too, but as rear fanged snakes they'd need some time to chew to actually envenomate anything so practically speaking they aren't dangerous.

Squalid posted:

Like lots of vipers they hate moving if they can at all avoid it.

ChubbyChecker posted:

imo rolling over someone is provoking, even if you do it without tanks

zoux posted:

Starting to think that you're secretly a snake

ChubbyChecker posted:

imo rolling over someone is provoking, even if you do it without tanks