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Herpetophobia... is it?
posted Tuesday, 12 September 2006
When I hear people talk about their fear of snakes, I like to ask them questions to see if their fear is deeply rooted. After a while, I began to realize that the fear of snakes is completely understandable and perhaps natural. It was upon such a realization that I began to question the correctness of Herpetophobia's presence (the fear of snakes or reptiles) in any list of phobias out there. If Phobias are intense, persistent, abnormal and irrational fear of a specified thing or situation, then I think the "fear of snakes" ought not, by that very definition, to be in that list. Of course there are harmless snakes, but how exactly should one know? Do they come with identity tags? Of course not. Therefore, I see nothing abnormal and irrational about a strong aversion to snakes. It is a perfectly healthy fear and I dare say this fear is the beginning of wisdom whenever it comes to issues regarding Man and reptiles. It can be the difference (this fear) between a living environmentalist, herpetologist, hiker, or hunter AND a dead one.
I remember a story I used to hear about how a python swallowed a sleeping army officer. Apparently, the soldier's colleagues were away when this deadly beast attacked and strangled the army officer. Then it proceeded to ingest this fully grown adult male. As the story goes, the soldier's friends came back and couldn't find their comrade and they searched fruitlessly for him. Finally, they happened upon a scene where an overfed python lay helpless and motionless. It was upon closer examination that they discovered that this python has swallowed their comrade. How did they find out? They saw that, while the python could swallow the man, It apparently couldn't get past the man's boots; it stuck out like a sore thumb apparently refusing to get past the python's jaws into its stomach.
I vividly remember that I dismissed that story as patently false because I was not willing to believe that a python can swallow a fully grown adult male human. I thought then that it was just a rumor spread to create an unnecessary aversion to pythons. Not that I would go out of my way to tame pythons though, but yeah, you get the idea. I think I had been quite uninformed for a long time; it was only natural that I would be shocked when i discovered much to my amazement that pythons are indeed formidable reptiles and can swallow much more than I expected. And so, now, I have a newfound respect or rather fear for these beasts. Forget the overhyped computer-generated graphics you may see in Anaconda or other related movies, the capacity and propensity for hungry or vengeful pythons or boa constrictors to overpower and engorge large beasts is FACT and not fiction.
That should inspire fear and a prayer never to be found staring at the ever-widening jaws of a fully grown python. Forget how huge and muscular you are, if a fully grown hungry python decides to have you for lunch, you better believe it will swallow you whole. Even if such an action will result in indigestion, immobility or even death for it. They have huge retractable jaws, and as I found out, they can swallow a human slowly until a human is perfectly enclosed in its belly--boots or no boots!You really should believe this. If you doubt me, take a measuring tape and then measure the distance from one shoulder blade to the other. If you have very huge hips, then measure the horizontal distance from one end of the hip to the other. Then compare that to the distance from the feet of a hippo to its back. Compare that again, if you wish, to the distance between the feet of a fully grown pregnant sheep to her back. How do they compare? "You mean a python can swallow these creatures?" you may ask. My answer is simple...yes, yes and yes! Therefore, herpetophobia is one 'useful' phobia. Its usefulness? It helps you to escape quick if you ever come face to face with a venomous snake (rattlers, spitting cobra etc) or heavens forbid, a python. Resist that urge to pet it or to pull it by its tail and use it for a rope!
If all fails, then watch this video:
Leave your comments here (1)
1. Brian left...
Saturday, 12 January 2008 3:42 pm
this is complete bs, first off it has been proven that yes a full grown
python (large variety like the rock or reticulated python) can and will
constrict a full grown adult human but that our shoulders get in the way
their mouths, and if the python in your story did eat a man and got past
his shoulders, chest etc why would his boots stop the "beast"? yes i truly
agree large constrictors are formidable animals and should we happen to run
into one when venturing through the jungles of Asia (reticulated python),
Africa (Rock python)or South America (Anaconda) we should not try to "pet"
them!
to make a long story short there are lots of people with a phobia to
snakes, lets not "create" phobia's for people with misinformation and
myths.