Myths and Beliefs

Over the centuries, snakes have been regarded as the mysterious of all the animals known to exist. They have been a part of religions, customs and stories told throughout the world. To primitive humans snakes appeared to possess seemingly magical and almost supernatural attributes because unlike any other animal, they move without legs, eat without chewing and in some cases their single bite can cause serious illness or even death. These instinctive behaviours were enough to form a myriad of myths and stories about the shy animal, snake.

Following is a list of myths and beliefs practised commonly in the Indian sub-continent:

1.Myth:
A small Kashmiri snake is so dangerous that it melts the snow as it passes.

Reality:
This is not true because snakes are cold-blooded animals and their body temperature is not high enough to melt the snow as it passes through.

2.Myth:
Upon killing a snake, revenge will be taken by its mate.

Reality:
This myth is well expressed through the Urdu and Hindi movies popular in our society. But this is not the case as it appears. When a snake is killed it secretes pheromone(a sex-attractant) from its anal opening, so it is highly probable that the nearby snake may show up to investigate what this musk is all about giving the impression that it will chase and kill the person.

3.Myth:
Snakes are milk lovers.

Reality:
Snake doesn't drink any type of liquid, but thinking critically, of what nutritional value a few spoonfuls of milk would be to a snake, and above all, how can a snake drink milk when it lacks suction powers.

4.Myth:
Snakes are believed to respond to music by dancing.

Reality:
Even though recent experiments have shown that snakes respond to low frequency airborne sounds but none of these experiments concluded that they could appreciate music.

5.Myth:
Some snakes are so special that they have got two heads.

Reality:
Since the red sand boa has an extremely blunt tail for camouflaging, so that the predator attacks the tail and head seeks escape, many people come to think that they have got two heads.

6.Myth:
Snakes possess jewel or some sort of light in their heads.

Reality:
There isn't such thing in snakes. If this were the case, then snake-catchers would have become rich overnight.

7.Myth:
If a ring snake bites a person, ring patterns will appear on victim's whole body.

Reality:
There isn't any scientific proof of this, although swelling may occur around the bitten part of the body.

8.Myth:
Chanting mantras, and magic herbs can cure snakebite.

Reality:
The above statement is true as long as it is understood in the context of a psychological cure of snakebite. But for physical treatment only anti-venom or anti-snakebite serum is effective.

9.Myth:
Snakes hunt by charming or hypnotising their prey.

Reality:
There is no scientific evidence that snakes charm their prey. In some cases the appearance of the snakes may prove to be breathtaking for smaller animals, but they aren't charmed. Birds may manoeuvre around the snake in order to prevent it from reaching its nest, and in the process be captured by the snake, giving the impression that they were charmed.

10.Myth:
Saw-Scaled Vipers jump as long as 6 feet in the air.

Reality:
Upon hearing this statement, it seems that evolution has blessed snakes with rocket propulsions. To be honest, a jump of 6 inch is more accurate.

11.Myth:
Besides their family members, cobras also mate with rattlesnakes.

Reality:
Cobras always mate with their own species and tend to avoid the company of big rattlesnakes.

12.Myth:
Removal of fangs makes snakes harmless.

Reality:
This is not true as snakes constantly shed and re-grow their fangs.

The advancement in the fields of biology and herpetology has paved a way to understand these fascinating animals in depth ands to form our perception about snakes based on facts and not fiction.