Reptiles & Emotions

LiL Zap · 03-05-14, 09:45 PM

This is sort of controversial in the reptile community so everyone keep it friendly lol.

Do you think reptiles have emotions?

I believe that reptiles have simple emotions such as pleasure, fear, trust and curiosity. Will your snake eagerly wait for you to come home from work? No. I just can't agree with the idea that snakes are animals that run purely on instinct. They LEARN and grow to trust people. Why do you think a burmese python, one of the most largest and powerful snake species, can be gently handled by people? Why do you think Tank the turtle (you can find his thread in the turtle section) takes food gently from his owner's hand instead of chomping his fingers off? I could go on and on.

I think people need to give reptiles more credit for their intelligence. I just don't think they're as simple minded as people make them out to be.

What is your thoughts? I'm really interested to hear what you all have to say!

CosmicOwl · 03-05-14, 10:55 PM

I think they do have some emotions, but humans are biased in our perspective by looking at the situation in mammalian terms.

poomwah · 03-05-14, 11:06 PM

I don't think they have many of the emotions that we share. But I do accept that it is possible. They may very well feel the entire spectrum of human emotions but not have the means to physically express it.
I doubt that's the case, but I'm open to the possibility since I can't prove it one way or the other.

**Pareeeee** · 03-05-14, 11:53 PM

Uh oh, one of these posts again.

MDT · 03-06-14, 06:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pareeeee

Uh oh, one of these posts again.

That's exactly what I thought when I saw this

poomwah · 03-06-14, 06:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDT

That's exactly what I thought when I saw this

uh oh, I'm new to this forum. what did I get myself into?

Mikoh4792 · 03-06-14, 06:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poomwah

uh oh, I'm new to this forum. what did I get myself into?

There have been countless numbers of threads on this exact topic, and it always turns into a heated pissing match about who's right.

Having said that, I would say it's more logical to take the position that although we don't know for sure, most reptiles(particularly snakes) probably do not have emotions(except for very basic ones like fear, comfort...etc). I facepalm every time I see someone who thinks their snakes love them and like to be handled.

poomwah · 03-06-14, 07:04 AM

ahh gotcha.
I don't go as far as to facepalm when I hear it, I am very doubtful about it, but as you said, the logical position is that we don't know for sure.
I would really love it if my snakes loved me, but I really doubt the care one way or the other as long as they are warm , safe, and fed.

kwhitlock · 03-06-14, 07:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDT

That's exactly what I thought when I saw this

Same..lol

These never go well..

poomwah · 03-06-14, 07:19 AM

this isn't going to turn into one of those kinda deals like where people get all pissed off and argue that dogs can't understand human language is it?
I've seen a lot of those

formica · 03-06-14, 07:27 AM

Dopamine - reward based learning, AKA pleasure
Seratonin - strongly associated with eating well, AKA contentment/happyness
Adrenaline - fight or flight response, AKA fear

all are found in reptiles.

the only emotional connections that are different, are those between mates and young - the only reason that humans form close emotional ties with mates and young, is because our babies are utterly useless at looking after themselves

....we can turn that into some complex abstract idea if we want, and claim that humans are more emotional complex, but, all of that comes from our intelligence, not our emotional capacity

poomwah · 03-06-14, 07:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by formica

Dopamine - reward based learning, AKA pleasure
Seratonin - strongly associated with eating well, AKA contentment/happyness
Adrenaline - fight or flight response, AKA fear

all are found in reptiles.

the only emotional connections that are different, are those between mates and young - the only reason that humans form close emotional ties with mates and young, is because our babies are utterly useless at looking after themselves

....we can turn that into some complex abstract idea if we want, and claim that humans are more emotional complex, but, all of that comes from our intelligence, not our emotional capacity

Now if we have posts like this to look forward to. this is going to be an excellent thread

Formica,
by this logic, would you you expect reptiles that are more protective of their young to be more capable of or likely to form an emotional bond?

drumcrush · 03-06-14, 07:47 AM

I posted this a while ago, take a look if you want

Reptile Emotions - Texas A&M Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences

kwhitlock · 03-06-14, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poomwah

this isn't going to turn into one of those kinda deals like where people get all pissed off and argue that dogs can't understand human language is it?
I've seen a lot of those

I dont think so this time, there was one of these posted a few weeks/month or two ago where it went on for a couple pages.

formica · 03-06-14, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poomwah

Now if we have posts like this to look forward to. this is going to be an excellent thread

Formica,
by this logic, would you you expect reptiles that are more protective of their young to be more capable of or likely to form an emotional bond?

yes I would say so, for eg those which incubate their own eggs (eg carpet pythons), are far more protective of their eggs, than those which dont, and a few (for eg Crocs) go so far as protecting their young beyond hatching - an emotional bond must exist for this to happen, whether they can discribe that emotional bond in abstract human terms, is irrelevant imo, a crocs teeth says it all!