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Snakes Can Learn!

KimberlyAnn

KimberlyAnn

New member
I admit I didn't really read the whole article you posted, only skimmed it. But it seems to me they "found" that snakes are capable of observing their surroundings and recognizing where they are and how to get where they want.

I don't find that particularly surprising. My snake knows where to go for water, where to go for heat, where to go to climb. He even heads for the same corner when he's going to poop. He also recognizes his feeding box and knows its feeding time when he sees it. I imagine everyone else's snakes do about the same thing.

He figured that all out pretty fast. I remember when I first got that feeding box, by about the second time he ate in it, he knew mice were coming. It's a clearish box, not colored, and I clean it every time I feed, so I know he doesn't recognize it by color or the smell of mice. But he DOES recognize it.

I haven't tried to actually train snakes before. I'd like to hear if anyone else has.
 
Very cool! I read this study a little while back. Snakes haven't gotten a lot of credit for cognitive abilities in the past because they're usually tested the same way that mice are (e.g. putting them through a maze). They're actually pretty smart: just search the forum for "escaped snake":rofl:
 
I always read about how you should not think of them as having a mammal type brain (True, they don't), but I don't think they are as robotic as people make them out to be. I would love to see more information on this.
 
the idea that brain size always equals intelligence is junk science based on 18th century anthropology. Truth is science has a very difficult time explaining intelligence let alone defining it. Humans tend to think of things in a very egocentric way and we fail to see intelligence in very simple forms like snakes. Snakes may not be able to do algebra but turn them loose in the wild and they will survive turn us loose in the wild and most of us would die. In that context which species is more intelligent?
 
The thing I find most egocentric about human thinking is that we value animals that have qualities we believe ourselves to possess (such as intelligence) more than others. I think animals evolve to be about as intelligent as they have to be. Snakes are so efficiently designed as is that they don't need advanced cognitive abilities to flourish. That is actually something I admire about them, not something I believe makes them stupid or inferior. As a few of you have pointed out, they're more than capable of learning and doing the important things in life, like escaping their enclosures and knowing when food is coming.

People tend to polarize instinct vs learned behavior and assume that snakes are driven by instinct alone, but I see a lot of evidence that learning is very important to snakes. I'm reading "Snakes: The Evolution of Mystery in Nature" by Harry Greene and he talks about king snakes needing to learn the proper way to swallow their prey through trial and error. Having spent the past few months raising both a corn and a king hatchling, I've observed that although they reacted to food instinctively, they still required practice to get the hang of striking it successfully. I've also watched my little king go through trial and error during his past few feedings. His striking skills have improved, but if he bites his mouse in the stomach, the instinct to keep swallowing is not so strong that he won't put it down, let go, and circle around it trying to find the best way to eat it. He is learning to eat his prey headfirst.
 
Snakes are so efficiently designed as is that they don't need advanced cognitive abilities to flourish. That is actually something I admire about them
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Absolutely! The fundamental "design" of the snake hasn't changed over millions of years - they're perfectly evolved to do what they need to do, in order to survive and reproduce. They're amazing.

Us humans seem quite inefficient by comparison.
 
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