![]() Within the United States, two genera of serpents also will chase humans, but “chase” isn’t exactly the correct word for what actually happens. Panama’s tourism department actually warns tourists of the aggressive nature of these rarely encountered yet highly dangerous serpents. An enormous and lethally venomous serpent, the bushmaster is well-known for this behavior. Some species of snakes will actively “chase” human beings, such as the Central American bushmaster ( Lachesis muta muta). Each just goes for the same path at the same time.Īs I said, however, this myth is partly true. People going opposing directions are not trying to block another’s passage down the hallway. A similar phenomenon occurs daily in tight office corridors around the world. Each zigs or zags in unison, which gives the illusion that the snake slithers or darts in pursuit of the person. ![]() Sometimes that avenue of escape is the same for both the human and the reptile. Like the frightened person, the snake also has a sudden and powerful drive to flee, and it picks the quickest escape route. Often the quickest escape route is instantly chosen. Fearing the snake to be life-threatening (it is insignificant to the myth whether the snake actually is), this person might experience weak knees and a faster pulse. Typically, when someone happens upon a snake in the wild, both the person and the snake are caught off-guard, so both slip into a state of panic at the same time. This myth is actually a half-truth exacerbated by frightened folk who had the misfortune of startling a sleeping or otherwise unaware snake while out for an afternoon walk through the woods. Those are baby copperheads each one is far more lethal than an adult.” Then I heard the boys’ father say something like the following: “Oh, you wouldn’t want one of those, boys. I knew the herp industry always would be alive and well as long as newcomers showed as much enthusiasm for the hobby as I had at their age, so with a warm heart and a smile on my face, I turned my attention to the deli cups and terrariums around me. The wide-eyed boys’ stares and constant stream of phrases were more than enough to suggest they had never been to a herp expo before: “Wow!” “Look at that.” “What is that?” A father had brought his two sons to their first reptile show, or at least that seemed to be the case. In fact, what I saw was not any species of cold-blooded creature. No, it was neither a tank of Fly River turtles marked “two for $10” nor a three-headed rat snake. As I walked between the table rows of my local bimonthly reptile and amphibian show in Birmingham, Ala., I spotted something I found particularly enjoyable.
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