Is no secret that I’m not a fan of slithering things. To me, a good slitherer is a dead slitherer. However I watched one of our cats today engage a fairly small snake in our yard. It was all black with a yellow ring. As he toyed with the snake it bit him several times. Each time Mr. Kitty yelped, but continued engaging. I was finally able to get a shovel and get the snake away from the cat. Our cat is still alive so I’m guessing this wasn’t a venomous snake.
So, I’ve always thought animals avoided snakes. I know cats are hunters, but you would have thought after being struck a few times Mr. Kitty would have retreated. Are cats not afraid of snakes?
Around the neck like this? If so, ringneck snake - completely harmless unless you are an earthworm or the like.
Nope. Or rather not entirely. On the one hand quite a few critters regularly make a meal of snakes.
On the other there does seem a genetic factor to avoidance of certain patterns/colors, as was demonstrated with birds and coral snake models. And while fearing snakes is definitely a learned behavior in primates ( monkeys kept in zoos that have never seen one aren’t automatically afraid ), it does seem to be a fear that is learned very easily just by watching other monkeys react.
So some critters will avoid some/all snakes, learned behavior or otherwise. But others regularly hunt them. Like this Sand Cat, which will happily prey on venomous snakes ;).
I’ve known plenty of cats that hunted snakes. No poisonous snakes in my area so they are rather successful. My uncle used to train hunting dogs, he specifically had to train them to be afraid of snakes(or at least leave to them alone). Hawks and eagles like eating snakes. Plenty of other snake eating predators too. Snakes have it kinda rough.
A predisposition to be afraid of snakes seems to be just a primate thing. Although it’s possible mice, other small rodents, and small birds might have an instinct to be afraid of snakes; I don’t think anyone has checked.
I’ve always thought that horses were instinctively afraid of snakes (or at least, otherwise, it’s something they all learn early).
Horses, I’ve read, are also instinctively afraid of ostriches, apparently because the long neck looks snaky to them. If you have a horse ranch next door to an ostrich ranch (I’ve heard of that happening), you have to train the horses to not be afraid of the ostriches.
I wonder what happens when a horse meets a giraffe?
Badgers and mongoooses especially will tear the living shit out of snakes. (The latter will slay a King Cobra and still have enough energy left to run a marathon. Ever read Rikki Tikki Tavi?
Horses are afraid of every damn thing. Horses are afraid of a fence that is now painted a new color. They will shy away from things that are invisible. And yet, they will walk right up to within striking distance of a poisonous snake, and then you have to inch them away, backwards. Unless the thing rattles; then they will jump sideways, giving you a good opportunity to fall off and land on it.
