# I thought most animals were scared of snakes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 18, 2016, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-most-animals-were-scared-of-snakes/757728 "2016-06-18T21:18:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-most-animals-were-scared-of-snakes/757728/21 "2016-06-19T14:56:17Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > … Ever read _Rikki Tikki Tavi_? … 😕 Don’t get reference. Except from the fog something about Heinlein, who I haven’t read in over 40 years, and I don’t know why… ETA: Kipling?..Kim! Right? ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-most-animals-were-scared-of-snakes/757728/22 "2016-06-19T17:27:47Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > 😕 Don’t get reference. Except from the fog something about Heinlein, who I haven’t read in over 40 years, and I don’t know why… > > ETA: Kipling?..Kim! Right? Close. It’s from _The Jungle Book_. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-most-animals-were-scared-of-snakes/757728/23 "2016-06-19T17:54:31Z")
[It’s also a song.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JceXdmWigzI) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-most-animals-were-scared-of-snakes/757728/24 "2016-06-19T19:15:44Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > 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. That’s because we’re no longer raising our riding horses for brains and tractability. Just looks. ---
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-most-animals-were-scared-of-snakes/757728/25 "2016-06-19T20:53:53Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > 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. Or houses are terrified of umbrellas. I think umbrellas are their natural enemies in the wild. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-most-animals-were-scared-of-snakes/757728/26 "2016-06-19T22:07:23Z")
Yes, a feral umbrella on the loose in your house can do untold damage. You especially need to keep them away from windows and water beds and light fixtures. In multi-story office buildings, you need to keep them away from elevator buttons (particularly the cheap plastic ones), which umbrellas will attack and destroy as fast as they can be replaced. (ETA: Not kidding. Evans Hall, the math/compsci building at U. C. Berkeley, had perpetually broken elevator buttons back when the building was new. It took me a long time to figure out why: People carrying umbrellas would poke the buttons with their umbrellas. I suspect they’ve long since been replaced by metal buttons.) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-most-animals-were-scared-of-snakes/757728/27 "2016-06-19T22:15:09Z")
Yes, new-born [del]houses[/del] horses are, by default, a-skeered of _everything_ but Mommy Horse. Throughout their lives, _everything_ that they are ever not afraid of, they had to _learn_ to not be afraid of. A large part of horse training consist of teaching them not to be afraid of things. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-most-animals-were-scared-of-snakes/757728/28 "2016-06-19T22:16:03Z")
> [@Ignotus](#): > > Close. It’s from _The Jungle Book_. And the Heinlein? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-most-animals-were-scared-of-snakes/757728/29 "2016-06-19T22:21:58Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > And the Heinlein? From _Just So Stories_ ? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-most-animals-were-scared-of-snakes/757728/30 "2016-06-19T23:14:44Z")
OK, I feel a whoosh. But it was some young girl-who-grows-up or something. Damn–in a different type of thread in GQ I’d have 20 cites already…🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-most-animals-were-scared-of-snakes/757728/31 "2016-06-19T23:20:23Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > What’s the current thinking about such genetic, “evolutionary” fear/loathing of snakes among humans? > > I think I remember seeing that being kicked around. Well, since this balloon went over like a brick, maybe the thread [Why are people afraid of spiders?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=626359) may be of interest. It also was the most surprising thread I’ve ever seen in SD, and may be unique. But that’s for ATMB. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-most-animals-were-scared-of-snakes/757728/32 "2016-06-20T02:28:30Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > What’s the current thinking about such genetic, “evolutionary” fear/loathing of snakes among humans? > > I think I remember seeing that being kicked around. Genesis 3:15 ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-most-animals-were-scared-of-snakes/757728/33 "2016-06-20T02:44:29Z")
I don’t see any recent studies on the primate/snake thing, but two or three years ago there were a lot of articles on it. Most of the studies aren’t very convincing, though, and seem to be a major over-interpretation of a few observations. ---
**Author:** ![JcWoman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jcwoman/32/2889_2.png) [@JcWoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JcWoman)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-most-animals-were-scared-of-snakes/757728/34 "2016-06-20T13:57:03Z")
The [cat and cucumber videos all over Youtube](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cats+and+cucumbers) are hysterically funny. After watching them I was tempted to try it on my cat. I suspect that the shape of the cucumber is triggering the cat’s innate fear of snakes. But then I noticed that she likes to flop down next to our greyhounds and play with their [tails](http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/images26/GreyhoundPurebredDog%20LexyRescue3YearsOldTrainedforRacingTim2.jpg), so I suspect she’s not a snake-phobic cat. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-most-animals-were-scared-of-snakes/757728/35 "2016-06-20T14:29:23Z")
There was a news piece last month about a kid and a dog playing in the yard, when a rattlesnake popped into the scene. The dog immediately attacked the snake, got bit, and spent a good bit of time recovering under the attention of a vet. The newshounds and/or family members immediately spun it as a case of the dog heroically/selflessly protecting the kid from danger; I think it’s more likely the dog just had an instinctive predatory fascination and didn’t quite grasp the danger to himself (let alone to the kid). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-most-animals-were-scared-of-snakes/757728.md?page=1)