snakes do eat people

[gonesnakee]

Originally Posted by geislandi

I work in a university psychology laboratory, and the idea that researchers would forget something as basic as erasing scent trails is very hard to believe.

Furthermore, I don't think it's that unlikely that snakes could be trained WITHIN their very limited cognitive abilities. True enough, they are limited. But the trick to animal training is using an animal's very instinctual capabilities to perform a given behavior when supplied with a given stimulus.

I think all of you are making too fine a distinction between instinct and trainability. Without instinct, very few animals would even be trainable.

I'm a falconer, and hawks are also basically "creatures of instinct." However, within the areas that are essential for their survival, the areas in which instinct is strongest, they are more than capable of being trained. Hawks, as simple and instinctive as they are, learn how to find food/shelter/water in a new, man-manipulated environment very readily. Snakes can do the same, not surprisingly.

Very good post & you are right in that we manipulate creatures "instincts" to "train" them as you stated WITHIN their very limited cognitive abilities. I guess that most folks myself included don't consider them trainable based on their extremely limited "thought" or lack of, but even a creature of pure instinct can be expected to follow those instincts when manipulated in a preset fashion to get the "expected" results. Thus being somewhat "trainable" using the term loosely. Most folks including myself consider "training" more in relation to our mammalian counterparts & their "thoughts" not a manipulation of instincts. Cheers Mark