snakes do eat people - Page 3

gonesnakee · 05-19-07, 01:27 PM

Quote:

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

drec91 · 05-20-07, 12:09 PM

those pictures are most likley a very rare incident, once u find me about 150 of those i will consider your point how many retic pythons have been killed by humans. part of the reason they may consider humans prey is because of the fact that a human is a big threat. and yes i have kept many many many many snakes. i aslo have a phd in biology

gonesnakee · 05-20-07, 01:26 PM

Not a lot of folks in 3rd world countries snapping pics with their digicams & posting them on their computers

Mark

drec91 · 05-20-07, 08:02 PM

good point but once i see alot more photographs of that kind i will be better persuaded. i understand that there are cases in which snakes have eatin people, i just dont think that a human is a normal meal for a snake. i dont believe this can be proven or not, so for now it is just an opinion

tl2iumph · 08-23-07, 04:18 PM

Right on gonesnakee,
just check out the ad on the 18 ft burm eating an alligator.LOL Prey is prey, hunger is hunger, and wild is wild....lmfao

allison27ca · 08-23-07, 09:45 PM

Why can't you feed a snake a cooked chicken?...just out of curiosity

jejton · 08-23-07, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gonesnakee

Ah what??? Snakes DO NOT have a state of mind as you put it LOL Snakes are creatures of PURE INSTINCT & don't even have a "mind" as far as it goes. If they are hungry & it is of appropriate size & made of flesh it is Prey. If their normal prey is a mammal there is no diference to them if it walks & talks or has any intelligence. If it is small enough to be "taken" & they are hungry it is potential prey.

Without weighing in on the debate in general I want to point out that this particular premise is false. If it was true, then we would never, or rarely, have problems getting WC snakes to eat our standard rats and mice. In truth, snakes are usually pretty particular towards a type of prey. Under certain circumstances, like many other predators, they may become opportunistic especially if their normal prey is scarce or they are too sick, old or injured to capture the normal prey.

drec91 · 08-24-07, 06:35 AM

my point exactly well said jejton

jayandlori05 · 09-27-07, 04:40 PM

So yeah i guess i should let you all know that i am half boa , yup thats right , my left arm is a Columbian boa ......lol

treeboa34 · 09-28-07, 05:16 AM

in the uk there was a picture of a retic that had swallowed a small man in a sunday supplement and everyone was like ban snakes etc however it turned out that the same picture was used fifty years earlier in the second world war and it had japanese soldiers in the background instead and it was an antelope or deer type creature that it had swallowed so you cant believe every thing you see in the media!