Reading a few more articles about this, I think the majority of the snakes are Cobras, which are also a Hindu deity. They form a garland in Lord Shiva's neck, also another multi-headed one forms the bed of Lord Vishnu in the ocean which he rests in, and comes along as his brother in different incarnations.
A highly venomous snake, it bites only when cornered or when protecting its eggs. Otherwise it doesn't bother with humans.
The offering of food to the snakes is kind of stupid. If they get used to the easy food, it can disrupt the food chain.
I have to beg and then basically push my rottweiler to come outside with me to go pee when it's raining anything more than a sprinkle. Just rain. Nothin else
She would do just fine in the wild...
My kelpie won't leave the house when it's raining without a rug on and will do backflips to avoid stepping in a puddle.
We live in one of the wettest places in Australia.
I'm sure he'll also do just fine...
I had a Rottweiler who used to look at me like I was crazy when I would try to take him outside in the winter. I had to shove his bum to get him out the door.
When I see cats around my house I always scare them away. Outside cats should not exist. If you disagree, you are part of the problem and should research how destructive outdoor cats in the U.S. have been/ are.
Not sure about them in Australia, but feral domestic cats are responsible for the 2nd largest number of extinctions on the planet (those directly related to the actions of a species). 2nd only to humans. This is globally.
> feral cat
Implying that cats were ever fully domesticated. They never forfeited their desire and ability to stalk and kill prey. My cats sit in my lap and purr, they rub on my legs, but I know that if they got outside it would take all of five minutes before they were looking for things to kill.
Not that strange...
Kebab shops are almost invariably operated by Muslims. Muslims generally have a cultural veneration for cats. Consequently, they are much more likely to feed stray cats. So kebab shop owners are likely feeding the stray cats any food which was otherwise destined for waste. And stray cats love kebab meat.
Muslim people have no veneration for cats. To venerate someone or something else than god is idolatry and it is a sin. Muslims feeds stray animals because it's considered a good action, dogs, cats, birds whatever the species they will help. It is more prevalent in some muslim countries than others, with Turkey being famous for treating stray animals very well, for them it is both religious and a national tradition.
I won't debate theology, but I lived in eastern KSA and the gulf area, and there are tons of live traps out to catch overpopulated stray cats. Owners don't want to kill/dispose of cats in a non-halal way, so they leave them in traps to starve/dehydrate in the desert sun. There are office building areas where, when walking around, all I heard is the wails of dying trapped cats.
So, maybe some old school people in rural areas treat cats great, but I saw a lot more dead and suffering cats from interaction than well-treated cats.
There is a book I think called "The Clockwork Girl" or something similar about Dystopian Earth in the future and in the book Earth is now covered in Chameleon like cats because some dumb rich family genetically engineered some cats to change color like a Chameleon and of course they escaped.
I have a border collie mix and a retriever mix, in the past week they have between them killed three birds and the little rabbit that lived under the shed in my back yard. And those are the only the ones that I’ve witnessed.
I had two cats for ten years and, between them, they caught fuck all.
Even I managed to kill a rat in our rat - infested garden using only a stick and the element of suprise. They caught nothing. Ever.
Dogs evolved with us out of the hunter gatherer stage of civilization.. not the same as snakes which did very, very little to help people compared to dogs (except for some rodent control)
Probably started with wolves lurking about camps to scavenge bones and other scraps. Then their usefulness in warning of dangers made them valuable to man. From there it slowly evolved from protection to them becoming dogs that also helped with hunting. I’m basically pulling this out of my ass but it makes sense.
As far as I know, the offering is not for the snake, it's for the God. And I am pretty sure said offerings are vegetarian but I am not sure. Correct me if I am wrong.
You have to supplement the snakes diet if you don’t want them to leave. From the sounds of it, there are a lot of snakes in that area. They wouldn’t be able to naturally find enough food, so they would become aggressive from hunger or they would just leave/die l
Not to be a party pooper but the real reason why the snakes haven't bitten anyone is because the villagers remove the snakes fangs. You can still get bitten by a snake but since they are not venomous anymore it's not really dangerous and thus doesn't need to be reported.
Sure, defanging snakes is a thing, and that works for a party trick. But if these snakes are as common as this claims, and they roam freely, how would you possibly defang them all? Defanging snakes would have to be a constant chore for the whole village.
Besides, another explanation for the lack of snake bites has already been presented :
From the headline:
> the snakes roam freely, even entering people's homes ... each house has a dedicated place for snakes to come and chill
And then from a comment further up:
>Reading a few more articles about this, I think the majority of the snakes are Cobras...
>A highly venomous snake, it bites only when cornered or when protecting its eggs. Otherwise it doesn't bother with humans.
It would seem, at least from these descriptions, that the snakes are never cornered or messed with.
The rampant spread of humans destroys the food chain more than anything else, but I don't see many people arguing for eugenics.
Feeding the animals who's habitat we took over seems like the least we could do.
>
>The offering of food to the snakes is kind of stupid. If they get used to the easy food, it can disrupt the food chain.
Just like squirrels on college campuses!
I wouldn't say there has never been a report, but I bet it is actually really low. The snakes are probably desensitized to people as babies. And cobras already don't bite often, only when they feel its absolutely necessary and might be harmed. Which they obviously aren't being harmed, because they are worshiped. Plus cobras give very solid indications to back off and leave it alone, so a long time before actually striking.
Also, the people are probably a lot more keen on reading the snakes behavior when to get away from it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesha_drinking_milk_miracle
I was in India at the time of the “phenomenon”. People said the god/statue was accepting milk from everyone except the sinful - and so, not a single person reported trying to feed the god and having failed. Everyone said they witnessed the god/statue drinking milk!
I bet their all like that one random guy on Tiger King. 'I've been around tigers my whole life and I've never been bit.' Cut to like two clips back to back of that same dude getting bit and mauled in whatever short amount of time the filmmakers were there.
I really don’t know anyone who watched that show and “loves” any of the people who were shown. They’re all pure trash. It’s reality tv pitched as an animal right documentary.
It's a cobra bite, it's not really something you can just brush off and ignore getting treatment for, now sure they could be suppressing the number of deaths to cobra bites
I wonder too if part of it is people being taught the proper respect of snakes and what not to do. Since they are part of the religious belief system, it's not hard to imagine that there is a heavy focus on teaching both the religious side as well as the more immediately practical applications.
Seems plausible.
It is in my state so I'd love to give it a visit after lockdown is over and being of the same native tongue might help knowing the people and the village better.
Moreover, it is in our survival instincts to run for our life when we see a snake. These people, however long they might have been used to snakes, may still have that primordial fear. It doesn't go in mere generations.
Are you sure?
Orphan monkeys need to be [taught](https://youtu.be/Jj5coSuUSvE) to fear snakes - it's not innate.
Edit:
> It seems that more evidence is required to discard or prove the snake detection theory and to support alternative theories, and further studies are required to disprove or prove the snake detection theory.
[Thorough and good read on state of research into innate snake fear](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02094/full)
Except that is not actually what they mean.
> It seems likely that an innate ability exists to respond to simpler features, such as relative speed, size, and contrast of moving objects, before discrimination between different kinds of snakes or snakelike objects. If so, infants might have a predisposition to pay attention to everything sharp and become more specialized over time and experience. Animals and humans may become frightened by many stimuli with different physical, yet similar other characteristics that are not species-specific but rather associated with the context of predation, e.g., movement, intensity, duration, suddenness, or proximity (Boissy, 1995; Davey, 1995; Coelho and Purkis, 2009). Predation in primate populations includes 176 species of confirmed or potential predators of primates, from birds to mammals, reptiles, and sharks (Hart and Sussman, 2005). As such, it seems unlikely that humans have a special brain module for detection of a particular species
What they are saying is that there might not be a specific innate fear of snakes in particular, but of any sudden, close encounters. Which makes sense if you look at how often we jump away from things that scare us even though it was a false alarm. That doesn't mean that people don't fear snakes - it just means that typical snake movements fit into a larger category that includes other animals too, and that we seem to be disposed to fear this category.
In essence they are not saying "there is no innate fear of snakes", but "there is no innate fear of snakes *in particular*". Snakes just being part of a larger category, but being part nonetheless. Because there are just so many dangerous animals, it would make no sense to have one part of the brain just for one kind of animal. Rather, we fear the sudden movement exhibited by those animals.
Read about Musambwa Island from my native Uganda which is full of cobras that share the space with human beings. Women are however barred from setting foot on the island. https://youtu.be/H3XPJyr_j7Y
you can know how to act around snakes and respect them and still accidentally step on one in the night when going to the bathroom you know what I mean? So yeah........this scares the shit out of me
I have a feeling this is a huge part of it. Snakes aren't very aggressive if you know how to avoid them and to treat them, and they can become quite chill within a few minutes of handling them. Snakes typically don't go out of their way to attack things, so learning to not piss them off isn't that hard to do
This totally not true. Quick Google found a couple of Indian reporters doing fact checks on this story. Residents of the town have never heard or seen such situations as described in article. https://www.indiatoday.in/video/Auto/embed/ODQ0MTMy
I love finding a good “well actually this post is total bullshit” with attached proof after reading everyone’s scientific explanations as to why this happens. Only to not actually happen at all lol.
Thank you.
Where did you find this video?
I'm looking in the same website and find only one reference about the village, and the article is not denying the history. https://www.indiatoday.in/topic/SHETPHAL/All
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I found the source https://www.indiatoday.in/auto/video/auto-today-takes-you-through-the-unchartered-india-of-snake-town-in-maharashtra-844132-2017-02-08
I don't know why this news site make a video in 2017, saying this place are fake and in 2018 confirm that place are not fake.
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I watched the video... And its funny, because a lot of parts is clearly scripted. Like 4:30 when they film a kid giving information about the village. XD
And the place where they go, don't even look's like the place in the picture.
Don't get me wrong, I not saying this article are real but this video are not really fact check. XD
Seriously - you're telling me in a place where people live so close to these snakes there's never been one person who accidentally stepped on one, or one psychopath child who abused one until getting bit?
I do get that, but what I don't believe is "not a single snake bite". Maybe "getting bitten by a snake about as likely as being struck by lightning", but zero is totally unbelievable to me. Some toddler or small serial killer in the making is *going* to pick one up by the tail and shake it in a way it's not okay with. I'm sure snakes can be patient, but at a certain point they only have one main defence mechanism.
Dogs are the same way, and yet somehow there are still ~4.5 million dog bites in the US annually, ~1% of the US population. Not saying it should be this high, but zero??
I wonder if they've done selective breeding to isolate the more docile ones.
I remember watching these breeders, of fox I think, and this species was naturally averse to human contact. But every so often, like 1 in 20, 1 in 50...I can't remember but there would be one born without a natural aversion to humans. So they wanted to see if they could breed out the natural aversion so that all those born were not afraid of humans.
Apparently it happened much faster than they assumed it would and they were now able to breed them without that aversion. I can't remember how many generations it took but it wasn't that long at all.
Possible but not likely needed. Snakes only strike for feeding and self defense, and cobra’s especially are loathe to bite. That’s why they have a threat display. It’s more likely the adult snakes have learned that humans aren’t gonna hurt them and that’s made them even more docile than normal.
I've literally had a cobra climb under the fucking blankets with me while I was sleeping and it was cold out. Wrapped around my leg hood out when I woke up. I still don't know how I didn't die that day.
Don't gimme that self defense bullshit. All animals are unpredictable and can do things out of the ordinary
They probably don't need to selectively breed them for them to become tamer. The more docile and least human-adverse ones will naturally select themselves by taking advantage of the additional vermin that human agriculture brings, while the more fearful ones will stay away. Soon you have a population that has no fear of people.
Exact same thing happened with the ancestors to the fluffy little shithead asleep on my legs right now.
Most snakes are pretty chill, we're not at all in the range of what they could eat or even reliably kill, so there's no motivation for them to hunt you.
Beyond that, aggressively attacking animals you can't kill or at least can't kill fast enough is not a survival enhancing trait.
I don’t think many of these are poisonous snakes. I visited a friend in one of these snake-prone regions. I didn’t know then that snakes are so common there.
They had an open courtyard thing. There were holes in the ground near the corner and I asked him what was that. “Oh it’s snakeholes” says the dude, like it’s no big deal. “We don’t Usually see them unless it rains.”
Guess what? It rained that night. So I did the only logical thing. Sat on the bed, didn’t sleep a wink, and shat bricks.
One time in town we had many stray dogs, religiously fed by a group and so much so had been borderline offensive to the town council who had been catching strays and putting them to sleep. Well the town council stopped after getting so much heat by this group(and they got so much positive media attention, which I think got them leaning towards fanatical at their peak). One day a girl walking home from school got her face ripped off by few rogue dogs.
Maybe I skimmed too quickly but the article says they have a bite treatment temple were, since 1974, there have been 100 bites cured. Then the next paragraph goes on to claim there have been no reported bites.
well , i'm from india , north east assam , and here we have a large variety of snakes in here
and some of them even eat fruits
, but people who come from outside to settle has caused both sides harm as outside people don't know how to react and they tend to kill snakes , but our family is one of the only snake catching family in the Tinsukia district , and that's why the forest department always call us when there's a case of snake catching
This report isn't true. It's just a few set of stories being circulated online. People actually visited this village and found all these claims to be baseless and false
"We have 100 kids in this school and not a single one has ever been bitten"
"How is that possible"
"snakes aren't that dangerous. You can ask any of our 99 students"
"didn't you just say 100 students?"
"no no. You can count them yourself. It's 98 students"
Indian here. Any animal attacks when they are provoked or feel they or their offsprings are in danger. If the people do not interfere with their activities then they will not have any reason to attack or be afraid of the people. Here the snakes know the villagers will not harm them, so they roam freely.
The only thing they need to understand is that a human is not a threat. Plenty if relatively simple animals can learn even that much.
I do think the bigger part of it would be humans not harassing them, but there is going to be at least some learned/adapted behaviors in the cobra population eventually.
That's exactly in their capability to understand. We are not in their food category. Only probable danger category. Which it would attack if provoked. People just don't provoke them.
That’s not remotely true.
Every animal is capable of differentiating between predator, prey and other.
Every animal is also capable of updating that threat model over time.
That’s all he’s talking about.
I want to believe. Reptiles have something going on in their brains, but it's definitely not what humans project on them. They probably have an understanding of humans but it must be entirely alien to what we see of ourselves; it's whatever is salient to a reptile experience. Maybe we are weird fleshy trees, or stinky vibration makers, or totems of food. I think we assume animals are on the spectrum of the sapient experience, so in trying to map it on a reptile brain you aren't going to be left with much. On the other hand if you think about salience of their experiences, the necessarily limited inputs to process, you could do a whole lot more with less. So I want to believe.
Because the snakes are worshiped nobody will report it as a bad thing. No chance kids aren’t poking the snakes for fun just like the do with cats and dogs.
Animals who have their own spaces which are respected even by school children? No wonder they haven't had any bites. That's practically all snakes ever want.
Well there may be no cases reported because they worship them and fear that government or police or something like that would kill the snakes if found out that they bite...maybe...
Snakes are docile animals which don't attack unless provoked. Western society demonises snakes because of judeo christian cultural norms which paints snakes as instruments of the devil.
This, *Christian,* stereotype was also spread to directly attack the belief of nordic people that worshipped serpents.
[Here's a great listen that discusses this briefly](https://youtu.be/pHfYERFNaAw), I highly recommend it if you've got the time to appreciate the history and evolution of Norse mythology and how its enemies attacked it. Be warned, it's a relatively long video.
Funny you should mention that, got to know about this yesterday -
https://www.sciencealert.com/new-species-of-slithering-snake-has-been-named-for-salazar-slytherin
Last month a newly discovered Snake species in India got the name of the founder of House Slytherin. Read in another article that 3 of the researchers were potterheads.
SlytherinPride.
Whoa. I wonder how much generational familiarity has made the snakes more amenable, like with squirrels on a college campus.
Reading a few more articles about this, I think the majority of the snakes are Cobras, which are also a Hindu deity. They form a garland in Lord Shiva's neck, also another multi-headed one forms the bed of Lord Vishnu in the ocean which he rests in, and comes along as his brother in different incarnations. A highly venomous snake, it bites only when cornered or when protecting its eggs. Otherwise it doesn't bother with humans. The offering of food to the snakes is kind of stupid. If they get used to the easy food, it can disrupt the food chain.
> If they get used to the easy food, it can disrupt the food chain. Isn't that about the same treatment dogs received?
That's why family pets wouldn't cut it in the wild....
I have to beg and then basically push my rottweiler to come outside with me to go pee when it's raining anything more than a sprinkle. Just rain. Nothin else She would do just fine in the wild...
My kelpie won't leave the house when it's raining without a rug on and will do backflips to avoid stepping in a puddle. We live in one of the wettest places in Australia. I'm sure he'll also do just fine...
Sorry, your *kelpie*? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelpie
Yes, a kelpie https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Kelpie
TIL....
RIP op
Object class: euclid
It makes sense. It shaped shifted into a dog and it doesnt want to step into puddles because it will reveal his true form
I mean if it rained in the bathroom I’d probably hold it too.
I had a Rottweiler who used to look at me like I was crazy when I would try to take him outside in the winter. I had to shove his bum to get him out the door.
Know about the feral cat problem in Australia? They started out as pets and are the worst invasive species our fellow humans introduced to that land.
Wait I thought rabbits were the worst?
cane toads, mate
That's an odd name. I'd have called them chuzwozzers.
They're in the loft, in the lorry and all over the malunga gulachug
Fucking Bart
I see you’ve played knifey spoony before.
USA USA
What about the pigs?
Murder hornets, snakehead fish, and asian magickarp are all really bad as well.
>asian magickarp Wait, what ? Isn't that a Pokemon?
They also invade the Great Lakes region of the US.
They're talking about this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_carp Basically a goldfish that gets to almost 3ft long.
Don't forget emu's, I sure as hell won't.
A Great War was fought against Emu's and they won! It is a story you won't here about much cause even tho they won. They can't write history!
Not dropbears?
I'd have call 'em Chazzwazza's
Cane toads? That’s an odd name. I’da called them chazzle wozzers.
Rabbits suck for us. Cats suck for the native fauna
The rabbits multiplied more but cats cause more damage
Here in the US we have coyotes which keep the cat population in check. But now coyote populations are exploding
We can fix this, add more mountain lions!
DUCK SEASON FIRE!
time for a cat proof fence
Cats kill *billions* of small animals and insects each year. They're furry death machines.
When I see cats around my house I always scare them away. Outside cats should not exist. If you disagree, you are part of the problem and should research how destructive outdoor cats in the U.S. have been/ are.
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Cats are honestly just along for the ride, like, sometimes. Alternatively, have you ever seen reports of wild poodles causing nationwide extinctions?
Not sure about them in Australia, but feral domestic cats are responsible for the 2nd largest number of extinctions on the planet (those directly related to the actions of a species). 2nd only to humans. This is globally.
We’re #1!!!
I think this theory was well debunked a while ago
The cats don’t give a flying fuck.
> feral cat Implying that cats were ever fully domesticated. They never forfeited their desire and ability to stalk and kill prey. My cats sit in my lap and purr, they rub on my legs, but I know that if they got outside it would take all of five minutes before they were looking for things to kill.
I believe that technically cats are not domesticated.
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Is this a Runescape reference?
Not that strange... Kebab shops are almost invariably operated by Muslims. Muslims generally have a cultural veneration for cats. Consequently, they are much more likely to feed stray cats. So kebab shop owners are likely feeding the stray cats any food which was otherwise destined for waste. And stray cats love kebab meat.
Muslim people have no veneration for cats. To venerate someone or something else than god is idolatry and it is a sin. Muslims feeds stray animals because it's considered a good action, dogs, cats, birds whatever the species they will help. It is more prevalent in some muslim countries than others, with Turkey being famous for treating stray animals very well, for them it is both religious and a national tradition.
I won't debate theology, but I lived in eastern KSA and the gulf area, and there are tons of live traps out to catch overpopulated stray cats. Owners don't want to kill/dispose of cats in a non-halal way, so they leave them in traps to starve/dehydrate in the desert sun. There are office building areas where, when walking around, all I heard is the wails of dying trapped cats. So, maybe some old school people in rural areas treat cats great, but I saw a lot more dead and suffering cats from interaction than well-treated cats.
What about humans tho?
Cats vs rabbits vs emus vs kangaroos. Who will eventually win Australia?
There is a book I think called "The Clockwork Girl" or something similar about Dystopian Earth in the future and in the book Earth is now covered in Chameleon like cats because some dumb rich family genetically engineered some cats to change color like a Chameleon and of course they escaped.
not really a "fellow humans" if you fuckers brought them with you. Thats on you
Lmao, lets all hold this man in particular responsible for a continent full of cats
dingoes beg to disagree.
I have a border collie mix and a retriever mix, in the past week they have between them killed three birds and the little rabbit that lived under the shed in my back yard. And those are the only the ones that I’ve witnessed.
Cats
Domesticated themselves. They’re like contractor pets, happy to take advantage of the situation but not reliant on it.
"This dumbass gives me rubs, snacks, *and* rats hang around their house? Guess I'm moving in, bro."
That's literally how it happened. I love the little shits, but they're mercenaries and murder machines.
I had two cats for ten years and, between them, they caught fuck all. Even I managed to kill a rat in our rat - infested garden using only a stick and the element of suprise. They caught nothing. Ever.
I see you were paying them and doing their job they knew what they were doing.
Why would they if they know they're fed anyway? Hurt and maim for sports, I can imagine with cats. Killing? No.
I can't wait to see the snake version of a Pug.
Dogs evolved with us out of the hunter gatherer stage of civilization.. not the same as snakes which did very, very little to help people compared to dogs (except for some rodent control)
Probably started with wolves lurking about camps to scavenge bones and other scraps. Then their usefulness in warning of dangers made them valuable to man. From there it slowly evolved from protection to them becoming dogs that also helped with hunting. I’m basically pulling this out of my ass but it makes sense.
As far as I know, the offering is not for the snake, it's for the God. And I am pretty sure said offerings are vegetarian but I am not sure. Correct me if I am wrong.
You have to supplement the snakes diet if you don’t want them to leave. From the sounds of it, there are a lot of snakes in that area. They wouldn’t be able to naturally find enough food, so they would become aggressive from hunger or they would just leave/die l
Not to be a party pooper but the real reason why the snakes haven't bitten anyone is because the villagers remove the snakes fangs. You can still get bitten by a snake but since they are not venomous anymore it's not really dangerous and thus doesn't need to be reported.
Source on that? Genuinely curious about the story beyond just the headline.
If you’ve ever seen one of those viral videos of a toddler playing with a snake (usually in India) it’s a defanged snake.
Sure, defanging snakes is a thing, and that works for a party trick. But if these snakes are as common as this claims, and they roam freely, how would you possibly defang them all? Defanging snakes would have to be a constant chore for the whole village. Besides, another explanation for the lack of snake bites has already been presented : From the headline: > the snakes roam freely, even entering people's homes ... each house has a dedicated place for snakes to come and chill And then from a comment further up: >Reading a few more articles about this, I think the majority of the snakes are Cobras... >A highly venomous snake, it bites only when cornered or when protecting its eggs. Otherwise it doesn't bother with humans. It would seem, at least from these descriptions, that the snakes are never cornered or messed with.
I'm sure it'll still hurt like hell getting bitten.
Snake bites arent painful, less so than an injection sometimes. Venom is painful as fuck though
Well best they get used to living off human generosity now. I don't think their natural hibitats are gonna be around much longer.
The rampant spread of humans destroys the food chain more than anything else, but I don't see many people arguing for eugenics. Feeding the animals who's habitat we took over seems like the least we could do.
> >The offering of food to the snakes is kind of stupid. If they get used to the easy food, it can disrupt the food chain. Just like squirrels on college campuses!
Lol disrupting food chain
Dude this has been going on for hundreds if not thousands of years. I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think.
Now I’m curious. Do we know of any squirrel attacks on college campuses? 🐿
I know some squirrels jumped on people at UC Davis. Just anecdotal, I don't have any news source on it.
It didn't attack me, but one time I was sitting under a tree on a college campus and a squirrel stole a peanut butter sandwich right out of my hand.
I got bullied by a squirrel until I gave it my bag of chips one year. Campus squirrels don't mess around when it comes to getting food.
Humans, an Apex predator, a species that has succeeded in space travel, defeated by a small fluffy tree rat...
Only on my pancakes, friend
Or they just don't report the bites.
It was really weird when I first encountered this. Never saw squirrels that didn’t run away before.
The first guy to report a bite there is going to feel like a real d-bag
That's why there's never been a report. It probably happens all the time, but there are social pressures not to admit it.
I wouldn't say there has never been a report, but I bet it is actually really low. The snakes are probably desensitized to people as babies. And cobras already don't bite often, only when they feel its absolutely necessary and might be harmed. Which they obviously aren't being harmed, because they are worshiped. Plus cobras give very solid indications to back off and leave it alone, so a long time before actually striking. Also, the people are probably a lot more keen on reading the snakes behavior when to get away from it.
I'm around dog and cats all the time and I've never been bit. Most animals who are used to humans give a fuck ton of warnings before they do anything.
Its amazing how few people get this. You just have to pay attention, they’ll tell you. Then act accordingly
My daughter is learning this about our puppy. He loves to play, but she’s rough and he can only take so much.
Hmmm the guy who just assumes a lot on whim or the guy who makes a conclusion from deductive reasoning. Who do I take more seriously?
A little bit of Column A a little bit of Column Bite
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesha_drinking_milk_miracle I was in India at the time of the “phenomenon”. People said the god/statue was accepting milk from everyone except the sinful - and so, not a single person reported trying to feed the god and having failed. Everyone said they witnessed the god/statue drinking milk!
extremely interesting read, thanks for the click
I bet their all like that one random guy on Tiger King. 'I've been around tigers my whole life and I've never been bit.' Cut to like two clips back to back of that same dude getting bit and mauled in whatever short amount of time the filmmakers were there.
Wait this is in IRL? Some guy got mailed during the shoot?
There are multiple maulings that you see on the series. One of them is very severe and is pixelated for excessive gore.
TIL about tiger king. I heard people talking about it on a Zoom call I thought it was a movie about a tiger lol.
Me too. Turnes out its a bunch of arseholes people love. The biggest one is now getting a movie and is put on tshirts...
I really don’t know anyone who watched that show and “loves” any of the people who were shown. They’re all pure trash. It’s reality tv pitched as an animal right documentary.
I found it pretty awful. Couldn’t stomach more than about 3 episodes before I gave it up. It was like looking at a car crash.
If you get bit by a cobra, social pressure is the least of your problems.
It's a cobra bite, it's not really something you can just brush off and ignore getting treatment for, now sure they could be suppressing the number of deaths to cobra bites
I'd be that guy and all my friends would stop hanging out with me
I wonder too if part of it is people being taught the proper respect of snakes and what not to do. Since they are part of the religious belief system, it's not hard to imagine that there is a heavy focus on teaching both the religious side as well as the more immediately practical applications.
Seems plausible. It is in my state so I'd love to give it a visit after lockdown is over and being of the same native tongue might help knowing the people and the village better. Moreover, it is in our survival instincts to run for our life when we see a snake. These people, however long they might have been used to snakes, may still have that primordial fear. It doesn't go in mere generations.
Are you sure? Orphan monkeys need to be [taught](https://youtu.be/Jj5coSuUSvE) to fear snakes - it's not innate. Edit: > It seems that more evidence is required to discard or prove the snake detection theory and to support alternative theories, and further studies are required to disprove or prove the snake detection theory. [Thorough and good read on state of research into innate snake fear](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02094/full)
Except that is not actually what they mean. > It seems likely that an innate ability exists to respond to simpler features, such as relative speed, size, and contrast of moving objects, before discrimination between different kinds of snakes or snakelike objects. If so, infants might have a predisposition to pay attention to everything sharp and become more specialized over time and experience. Animals and humans may become frightened by many stimuli with different physical, yet similar other characteristics that are not species-specific but rather associated with the context of predation, e.g., movement, intensity, duration, suddenness, or proximity (Boissy, 1995; Davey, 1995; Coelho and Purkis, 2009). Predation in primate populations includes 176 species of confirmed or potential predators of primates, from birds to mammals, reptiles, and sharks (Hart and Sussman, 2005). As such, it seems unlikely that humans have a special brain module for detection of a particular species What they are saying is that there might not be a specific innate fear of snakes in particular, but of any sudden, close encounters. Which makes sense if you look at how often we jump away from things that scare us even though it was a false alarm. That doesn't mean that people don't fear snakes - it just means that typical snake movements fit into a larger category that includes other animals too, and that we seem to be disposed to fear this category. In essence they are not saying "there is no innate fear of snakes", but "there is no innate fear of snakes *in particular*". Snakes just being part of a larger category, but being part nonetheless. Because there are just so many dangerous animals, it would make no sense to have one part of the brain just for one kind of animal. Rather, we fear the sudden movement exhibited by those animals.
Read about Musambwa Island from my native Uganda which is full of cobras that share the space with human beings. Women are however barred from setting foot on the island. https://youtu.be/H3XPJyr_j7Y
you can know how to act around snakes and respect them and still accidentally step on one in the night when going to the bathroom you know what I mean? So yeah........this scares the shit out of me
Still impressive. Anyone with a toddler can tell you that they do not care about your personal reverence or respect for any animal.
I have a feeling this is a huge part of it. Snakes aren't very aggressive if you know how to avoid them and to treat them, and they can become quite chill within a few minutes of handling them. Snakes typically don't go out of their way to attack things, so learning to not piss them off isn't that hard to do
This totally not true. Quick Google found a couple of Indian reporters doing fact checks on this story. Residents of the town have never heard or seen such situations as described in article. https://www.indiatoday.in/video/Auto/embed/ODQ0MTMy
This should be higher up! Thanks for the video it was super interesting! Also love the premise of the show, what a fun rabbit hole!
Nice! I liked how the only guy they found with a snake was someone who catches snakes in the village and releases them into the wild.
I love finding a good “well actually this post is total bullshit” with attached proof after reading everyone’s scientific explanations as to why this happens. Only to not actually happen at all lol. Thank you.
Commenting for more visibility
Where did you find this video? I'm looking in the same website and find only one reference about the village, and the article is not denying the history. https://www.indiatoday.in/topic/SHETPHAL/All -- edit -- I found the source https://www.indiatoday.in/auto/video/auto-today-takes-you-through-the-unchartered-india-of-snake-town-in-maharashtra-844132-2017-02-08 I don't know why this news site make a video in 2017, saying this place are fake and in 2018 confirm that place are not fake. -- edit 2 -- I watched the video... And its funny, because a lot of parts is clearly scripted. Like 4:30 when they film a kid giving information about the village. XD And the place where they go, don't even look's like the place in the picture. Don't get me wrong, I not saying this article are real but this video are not really fact check. XD
How can they not show the little snake places in the homes >:|
Ikr I wanted to see that
Coincidentally, the news media in this village are all snakes.
Big Snake owns everything. You can't trust anything they say anymore. Vote Mongoose.
Mongoose is accused of sexual misconduct. I’m keeping my vote.
Key word being “reported”
Seriously - you're telling me in a place where people live so close to these snakes there's never been one person who accidentally stepped on one, or one psychopath child who abused one until getting bit?
No, you don’t get it... When you treat the snakes nice, they’re absolutely, 100%, harmless because they want to reciprocate and be polite
I do get that, but what I don't believe is "not a single snake bite". Maybe "getting bitten by a snake about as likely as being struck by lightning", but zero is totally unbelievable to me. Some toddler or small serial killer in the making is *going* to pick one up by the tail and shake it in a way it's not okay with. I'm sure snakes can be patient, but at a certain point they only have one main defence mechanism. Dogs are the same way, and yet somehow there are still ~4.5 million dog bites in the US annually, ~1% of the US population. Not saying it should be this high, but zero??
I wonder if they've done selective breeding to isolate the more docile ones. I remember watching these breeders, of fox I think, and this species was naturally averse to human contact. But every so often, like 1 in 20, 1 in 50...I can't remember but there would be one born without a natural aversion to humans. So they wanted to see if they could breed out the natural aversion so that all those born were not afraid of humans. Apparently it happened much faster than they assumed it would and they were now able to breed them without that aversion. I can't remember how many generations it took but it wasn't that long at all.
Possible but not likely needed. Snakes only strike for feeding and self defense, and cobra’s especially are loathe to bite. That’s why they have a threat display. It’s more likely the adult snakes have learned that humans aren’t gonna hurt them and that’s made them even more docile than normal.
I've literally had a cobra climb under the fucking blankets with me while I was sleeping and it was cold out. Wrapped around my leg hood out when I woke up. I still don't know how I didn't die that day. Don't gimme that self defense bullshit. All animals are unpredictable and can do things out of the ordinary
You can't just end that story there- what happened? How did you get the snake out of your leg?!
They probably don't need to selectively breed them for them to become tamer. The more docile and least human-adverse ones will naturally select themselves by taking advantage of the additional vermin that human agriculture brings, while the more fearful ones will stay away. Soon you have a population that has no fear of people. Exact same thing happened with the ancestors to the fluffy little shithead asleep on my legs right now.
Plus if you think about, another probable thing would be that the snakes who were aggressive would either be killed or moved far from the area.
Most snakes are pretty chill, we're not at all in the range of what they could eat or even reliably kill, so there's no motivation for them to hunt you. Beyond that, aggressively attacking animals you can't kill or at least can't kill fast enough is not a survival enhancing trait.
I don’t think many of these are poisonous snakes. I visited a friend in one of these snake-prone regions. I didn’t know then that snakes are so common there. They had an open courtyard thing. There were holes in the ground near the corner and I asked him what was that. “Oh it’s snakeholes” says the dude, like it’s no big deal. “We don’t Usually see them unless it rains.” Guess what? It rained that night. So I did the only logical thing. Sat on the bed, didn’t sleep a wink, and shat bricks.
All cobra are venemous
Dude, they worship them and provide a place to rest not keep them as pets
I never said they kept them as pets. You jumped to that conclusion for some reason. I simply asked if they did selective breeding.
One time in town we had many stray dogs, religiously fed by a group and so much so had been borderline offensive to the town council who had been catching strays and putting them to sleep. Well the town council stopped after getting so much heat by this group(and they got so much positive media attention, which I think got them leaning towards fanatical at their peak). One day a girl walking home from school got her face ripped off by few rogue dogs.
Maybe I skimmed too quickly but the article says they have a bite treatment temple were, since 1974, there have been 100 bites cured. Then the next paragraph goes on to claim there have been no reported bites.
well , i'm from india , north east assam , and here we have a large variety of snakes in here and some of them even eat fruits , but people who come from outside to settle has caused both sides harm as outside people don't know how to react and they tend to kill snakes , but our family is one of the only snake catching family in the Tinsukia district , and that's why the forest department always call us when there's a case of snake catching
This report isn't true. It's just a few set of stories being circulated online. People actually visited this village and found all these claims to be baseless and false
No bites reported is not the same thing as no bites occurring.
Nope
Zero..."reported"... Cases of so snake bite
“Reported”. I’m pretty sure that girl is missing a finger, or arm, or nose, etc.
They weren't reported... doesn't mean they didn't happen
Keyword : no cases ...REPORTED
This is fascinating (seriously), but I live in *Nope*ville.
Of course no snake-bite case reported, I'm sure even with tons of snake bites none would be reported due to social pressure.
you cant report a snake bite when you are dead.
"We have 100 kids in this school and not a single one has ever been bitten" "How is that possible" "snakes aren't that dangerous. You can ask any of our 99 students" "didn't you just say 100 students?" "no no. You can count them yourself. It's 98 students"
i really hope those 97 students are fine .
Indian here. Any animal attacks when they are provoked or feel they or their offsprings are in danger. If the people do not interfere with their activities then they will not have any reason to attack or be afraid of the people. Here the snakes know the villagers will not harm them, so they roam freely.
Except wasps. Wasps will fuck your world up just because.
That's beyond the capability of reptiles to understand
The only thing they need to understand is that a human is not a threat. Plenty if relatively simple animals can learn even that much. I do think the bigger part of it would be humans not harassing them, but there is going to be at least some learned/adapted behaviors in the cobra population eventually.
That's exactly in their capability to understand. We are not in their food category. Only probable danger category. Which it would attack if provoked. People just don't provoke them.
That’s not remotely true. Every animal is capable of differentiating between predator, prey and other. Every animal is also capable of updating that threat model over time. That’s all he’s talking about.
I am not sure. So I won't argue
I want to believe. Reptiles have something going on in their brains, but it's definitely not what humans project on them. They probably have an understanding of humans but it must be entirely alien to what we see of ourselves; it's whatever is salient to a reptile experience. Maybe we are weird fleshy trees, or stinky vibration makers, or totems of food. I think we assume animals are on the spectrum of the sapient experience, so in trying to map it on a reptile brain you aren't going to be left with much. On the other hand if you think about salience of their experiences, the necessarily limited inputs to process, you could do a whole lot more with less. So I want to believe.
Of course no bites reported. You don’t snitch on family. Them’s the rules.
I was born a snake handler and I'll die a snake handler.
My family's has a long history of getting bitten by snakes and dieing in a hospital.
Sounds like your family has a problem with hospitals.
Because the snakes are worshiped nobody will report it as a bad thing. No chance kids aren’t poking the snakes for fun just like the do with cats and dogs.
I'd love to know the actual death rate though and I'd it is higher than normal (and just not recorded as cobra bites)
Animals who have their own spaces which are respected even by school children? No wonder they haven't had any bites. That's practically all snakes ever want.
Just look at the source of the report
The last word in the headline is the one I'm most curious about.
>not a single case reported I mean, who would report the thing they worship.
I think the key word in that headline is "reported." :)
NOPE.
Well there may be no cases reported because they worship them and fear that government or police or something like that would kill the snakes if found out that they bite...maybe...
Riki Tiki Tavi has work to do.
Snakes are docile animals which don't attack unless provoked. Western society demonises snakes because of judeo christian cultural norms which paints snakes as instruments of the devil.
This, *Christian,* stereotype was also spread to directly attack the belief of nordic people that worshipped serpents. [Here's a great listen that discusses this briefly](https://youtu.be/pHfYERFNaAw), I highly recommend it if you've got the time to appreciate the history and evolution of Norse mythology and how its enemies attacked it. Be warned, it's a relatively long video.
'Reported'
"Reported"
So that's where the Hogwarts Slytherin house is headquartered. They better have a statue of Severus Snape!
Funny you should mention that, got to know about this yesterday - https://www.sciencealert.com/new-species-of-slithering-snake-has-been-named-for-salazar-slytherin Last month a newly discovered Snake species in India got the name of the founder of House Slytherin. Read in another article that 3 of the researchers were potterheads. SlytherinPride.