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Author Topic:   Genuine Puzzles In Biology?
Tupinambis
Junior Member (Idle past 4656 days)
Posts: 18
Joined: 12-12-2010


Message 125 of 153 (596017)
12-12-2010 11:24 AM


fear of snakes
I don't believe that a fear of anything beyond tormenting pain and death can really be genetically encoded. A fear of snakes is, more likely than not, attributed to learned behavior and individual personality than genetics. I think people react more to certain attributes of snakes than the actual snakes themselves; I.E. hissing.
Present a small child with a baby corn or hognose snake and they'll probably be enamored by it. Present them with an adult King Cobra as it flairs its hood, hisses, and lunges at them and they'll probably be filled with an overwhelming sense of terror.
From my casual observations most animals capable of hearing react very strongly to anything that sounds like hissing. It seems to be one of the best ways for different species to communicate their antagonism with one another. Imagine a Pomeranian aggressively approaching an adult monitor/iguana/tegu/whatever, barking and doing all that other annoying crap that I hate Pomeranians for. Lizard responds by facing the little dog, flaunting its teeth (which are barely visible), and hissing. Little dog runs away in terror.
Why should this be? The dog's wolf ancestors [probably] never encountered big lizards in its natural habitat. Unless the lizard in question was a perentie or a crocodile monitor none of them would have posed a threat to the wolf either (both species are Australian, and thus would probably not have been encountered).
Now, the little dog clearly did not have a pre-disposed fear of the giant lizard itself even though it was clearly large and strong enough to kill and eat it. If it did it wouldn't have approached in the first place. It did have an immediate reaction to it hissing though. I imagine this originates from it's (and our) ancestors' encounters with venomous and constricting snakes. Many people don't initially fear snakes until they've learned to do so; either by being taught so by their parents or experiencing one hissing and lunging at them.
As for spiders... I have no idea. Perhaps our ancestors would commonly seek food hiding in crevasses and would get a less-than-pleasant surprise when it stuck its hand in. Of course, that would probably have also lead to a pre-disposed fear of land crabs which we don't have. Land crabs also make me skeptical of the scorpion idea. A crab can look very much like a spider, especially the small ones, yet when a person encounters a crab in their yard or even their house they're probably not going to have as strong a reaction as if it were a giant spider.

Replies to this message:
 Message 132 by Taz, posted 12-15-2010 3:44 PM Tupinambis has replied

Tupinambis
Junior Member (Idle past 4656 days)
Posts: 18
Joined: 12-12-2010


Message 126 of 153 (596019)
12-12-2010 11:34 AM
Reply to: Message 6 by bluegenes
05-27-2010 4:26 PM


Re: Green mammals?
bluegenes-
I know it's an old one, but why are there no truly green mammals?
I'm going to give my best shot at this one. The reason there are no truly green mammals is because, with one exception, there are no mammals which really require being green to aid in their survival. You get green lizards and snakes because it helps them camouflage and, more importantly, tree-dwelling snakes and lizards (well, the bigger ones anyway) cannot effectively run away from an approaching threat while in the trees. Reptiles much prefer to hide and not move opposed to running; much more so than mammals. Ground dwelling mammals hide in burrows and tree dwelling ones are fast enough to escape. The sloth gets green algae on it, so it may not be green itself but it gets the job done.
No mammal can also change its color like a chameleon or an anole can.

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 Message 6 by bluegenes, posted 05-27-2010 4:26 PM bluegenes has not replied

Tupinambis
Junior Member (Idle past 4656 days)
Posts: 18
Joined: 12-12-2010


Message 145 of 153 (596687)
12-16-2010 1:56 PM
Reply to: Message 132 by Taz
12-15-2010 3:44 PM


Re: fear of snakes
I have not actually studied this subject matter but everything I'm saying is based on personal observations. I don't necessarily believe that humans really have an ingrained fear of anything that is strange to us, increasing fear with increasing strangeness. I think the ordinary person would have a much stronger reaction to a rat in their house than a slug or an earthworm.
I still believe that it has more to do with certain features of certain animals that we fear than the animals themselves. I think baby snakes are cute. If it starts to puff up and hiss at me though I'd probably be nervous around it. I'm not afraid of the Tegu which is my avatar even when he grows into an adult because of his calm demeanor. If, as an adult though, he starts hissing and whipping at me, I'd probably be afraid to be near him.
A better example is probably in order here. If I see a red fox running accross the street I would probably be more enraptured by it than anything else. If it starts to approach me though, I'm heading back inside and locking the door.
As per arthropods, I still don't know. Crabs look a lot more like spiders than centipedes do, but people are more afraid of centipedes and spiders than they are of crabs. If someone encountered a spider the size of a "blue land crab" they'd probably soil themselves. I should probably take into account the fact that terrestrial crabs evolved relatively recently (I think....). The thing about crabs though is that they're relatively intelligent and will run away from you if you approach them. Spiders and centipedes aren't. Our fear of them may be related to how they display little to no fear of us, and they're not pointlessly slow like a slug.
As for most animals, if its not afraid of you and its not an oblivious prey item, there's probably a reason for its apparent confidence.
Edited by Tupinambis, : No reason given.

This message is a reply to:
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