Did people evolve the fear of snakes?

[burkey]

Evolution Of Aversion: Why Even Children Are Fearful Of Snakes

Hey guys,
was browsing around today and found this, it's an article about how the fear of snakes, spiders etc, may have evolved over time. The fear arose as a way for early humans to detect snakes easier.

I think I read somewhere that humans arrived around about 100 million years ago, and snakes got thier venom 80 million years ago. Are we at war haha?

I found it a really interesting read. Hope you do to

Oh btw, I love my snake, he doesn't scare me

 

[bohdi13]

i think it is based on instincts to stay away from snakes, most animals scatter from the sound or sight of a snake; such as hissing at cows.
all animals are thought to be around 80% instinct and it is also we are told as kids that snakes are 'bad', 'dangerous' and we are told to stay away from them.

 

[burkey]

Isn't it funny then, we throw out our evolutionary instinct to stay away from snakes and keep them as loving pets awwww, maybe a new mans best friend is evolving

 

[andynic07]

Isn't it funny then, we throw out our evolutionary instinct to stay away from snakes and keep them as loving pets awwww, maybe a new mans best friend is evolving

Maybe it has something to do with people working more and more and having less time so therefore require a pet that requires less time.

 

[mad_at_arms]

Isn't there a book that mentions "forbidden fruit" and a snake?

 

[Adamd]

I'm not sure that children are born afraid. My two kids have handled snakes since they were about 3 at shows and zoos Before we convinced my wife to let us have snakes, they never showed any fear until one day my wife saw I was letting my daughter hold a large olive python and freaked out, she instantly gained a fear and held it for about a year. I often hear story's about small children bringing snakes into the house. So is it instinct or learned behaviour? I would really like to know!!!

 

[saintanger]

i believe its learnt behaviour, my 2 year old will hold any of my pythons with no fear and with out hesitation. but if it bit her or someone got scared and carried on about it she would learn to fear them.

 

[Adamd]

I think your right, it is probably the first thing most parents teach kids to be afraid of spiders, snakes. Yet a dog could be more dangerous than most snakes but kids generally aren't taught to fear them, not that I have any issues about dogs!

 

[burkey]

I agree that the fear itself is a learnt behaviour or reaction to snakes. However, it is thought that primates, humans included can spot a snake, pick it out from a background very well and quickly. Picture snake hidden in the jungle. Even children are more likely to spot snakes, as opposed to say a lizard. Because it poses more of a "threat"

Theres an interesting article I read today, but, I can only link the abstract:
ScienceDirect.com - Journal of Human Evolution - Snakes as agents of evolutionary change in primate brains
(university library accounts rock!)

it's a bit of a mouthful, but I goes to the extent of saying that our superb vision is partly due to snakes, and our ability to detect them.

Perhaps this ability to spot a snake so well is what leads us to admire them so much?

 

[jack]

Modern humans barely date to 200 hundred thousand years, not even close to 100 million. I have not observed any evidence of young children being any more adverse to snakes than other animals.

 

[Skeptic]

Makes sense. People who had the ability to discern a venomous snake from a pile of leaves or a branch would have a better chance of surviving and reproducing. Interesting about the eyesight part. I remember reading an article a few years proposing that modern humans would have larger noses and ears if we hadn't started domesticating dogs around 35 000 years ago.

 

[Adamd]

Well above my knowledge of neurology, but very interesting read. Food for thought. Thanks

 

[Pauls_Pythons]

i believe its learnt behaviour, my 2 year old will hold any of my pythons with no fear and with out hesitation. but if it bit her or someone got scared and carried on about it she would learn to fear them.

Interesting thread and I agree that the behavior is learned, both from those around us when we are young and definitely influenced by the media's constant portrayal that snakes are dangerous.

 

[bohdi13]

I believe in instinct and how you are brought up, your gaurdian(s) teach you what to fear and what not to fear. My little brother has been taught dont touch wild snakes or any wild animal for that matter unless we alow him. He plays with ants and insects outside but he learnt spiders are so utterly 'bad' and 'dangerous' off kid show where there was a killer spider. I love spiders and snakes, i like all animals and am nnot particularly in fear of animals but there is that bit of fear when I'm around most animals. My brother also has a fear of dogs, mum was attacked when she was pushing him in.a stroller and he's been terrified since. I also was 'attacked' by a pair of shar peis weeks after my mum had been attacked by a dog.

Sorry about the life story, just couldn't help explaining some personal things about this topic.

Bohdi.

 

[Snake Catcher Victoria]

Human fear is a learned thing, passed down from watching other people and family members. Maybe fear of fire, water or falling might form part of a basic instinctual fear but fear of snakes is only taught

 

[TheReptileben]

a bit of fear is a good thing, what if we had absolutely no fear? Then we as keepers wouldn't give vens the respect for what they can do to us. I believe that even us keepers have a small amount of fear of snakes, but it is shown as a healthy respect for the damage that SOME snakes are capable of. I agree with most of you though, fear is a learned behavior.

 

[Brodie]

I reckon it's learned behaviour. Living in the bush as a kid snakes were part of everyday life. I lived in Windorah and distinctly remember the local snake catcher removing an inland from my school. I was never scared of snakes, neither were my friends.

I'm actually nervous around coastal taipans, a friend of mine came very close to death after being bitten up near Hopevale. As for the other elapids, I don't even get an adrenalin rush when handling them anymore. I haven't lost respect for them but the fear just isn't there.

 

[saintanger]

for the ones of us who have children whats the first thing we say wen they go near a fire, or they are to young to swim and go near water? we panic and pull them away or tell tem no its dangerous.

babies are born with out fear, we teach them and they copy what they see. wen i was young my mother would always get scared wen i went swiming, even though i did lessons. she could not swim so if i went out to a part i could not touch the floor she would scream at me to get back and tell me sharks would eat me, till this day i fear deep water cause sharks might eat me.

my mother use to tell me all dogs bite and have fleas and will kill me ect so i grew up terrified, mind you she owned 5 dogs wen i was a toddler but she hated them and to keep me away she would tell me they were gonna bite me. so i stayed away, but my love for all animals overcame that and now i own 4 dogs. but both my sisters and my brother are terrified of dogs. if my chihuahua walks in the house my sisters and brother jump on my couch and scream like crazy.

wen i had my daughter i promised not to make her fear everything i grew up scared of. she is turning 2 next month and she is not affaraid of snakes, water or dogs. she loves them because she has never been shown fear around them.

 

[moosenoose]

I figure the more frightened a person is about a snake, the closer they are to an ape

 

[burkey]

I figure the more frightened a person is about a snake, the closer they are to an ape

Hahah best quote ever.

Im glad to see this has stirred some interest. It is interesting to think about learnt traits vs. instinctual traits. This quote was in the first article I posted,

"LoBue and DeLoache explain that their study does not prove an innate fear of snakes, only that humans, including young children, seem to have an innate ability to quickly identify a snake from among other things.[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"


And in the second article it goes into more detail: Snakes evolved before early primates and had been doing very well attacking then suffocating their prey. When early primates were faced with this predator they had to do something. It seems that natural selection favoured those who were better able to identify a snake at a distance. Protecting themselves. And the theory goes that because of this slowly evolving ability to better see specifically a snake, this is part of the reason eyes in primates and early humans became so good, full colour, 3D for example all would have made it easier to pick out a camouflaged animal.

and as primates developed their vision, snakes also needed better tactics, hence, this is one of the reasons they got their venom. It's seems snakes and primates may have had quite an intimate relationship. All of this spread across millions of years of course lol.

So it stands to reason that today we are left with this ability to see them better than other animals, but the common sense and understanding that snakes arn't a major threat, or at least we know how to deal with them. And perhaps this might be the cause of our fascination?
Perhaps because we can see them clearer, plus we have evolved to maybe respect the snake from birth as opposed to fear it is why some of us enjoy the hobby so much?



[/FONT]