Zero to Hero

World mythology and throughout time have often included the snake in a key role, whether as a god or the Devil.  The more negative mythologies, particularly of the Judeo-Christian faiths, contribute strongly to ophidiophobia. 

•  Virtues ascribed to snakes in mythology:
• Strength
• Power
• Beauty
• Cleverness
• Nimbleness
• Highly-developed instincts
• Nobility
• Danger and the ability to kill

The Gospel Truth

One of the reasons snakes are so feared by humans is the myriad of misconceptions about them.  Here are some myths about snakes (particularly venomous ones) and the truth behind them:

• Myth: A rattlesnake's age can be told from the length of its rattle.
• Truth: Segments of a rattlesnake's rattle (called "buttons") fall off due to wear and tear.  The record for the most segments on a captive rattlesnake is 29, while the average rattler will have between 5 and 10 segments.

Maybe I'm a Bit Mad, but this Makes Me Angry

A friend posted a picture of a Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix) that she had found near her house on her Facebook.  She put it in a bucket with the intention of bringing it someplace where it wouldn't encounter people.  The snake was about 8 inches long, which means it was fairly young.
The immediate reaction in the comments was a couple people calling for her to kill it.
I'm not nearly naive enough to think that people don't kill animals for various reasons, including preserving their own safety, but there is really no reason to harm a living creature such as a snake for merely being too close to humans.  Furthermore, the majority of snakebite instances are not unprovoked, but occur when people try to kill the "offending" serpent.  A snake's first instinct is to get away from you, but they really aren't very fast (the fastest terrestrial snake, the Black Mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) can go about 12 MPH).
Furthermore, the Copperhead's bite isn't particularly harmful, except to the very young, very old, very sick, or very drunk.  According to Volume I of The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere, the dose of Copperhead venom which is lethal to a human is 150mg, while the average bite only contains 25mg of venom, 1/6 that amount. 
While the Copperhead has historically been seen as the largest source of snakebite in the United States, only 11% of these bites even require antivenin (or antivenom)--the serum created from horse blood which provides a "cure" for snakebite (The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere).

HOLY CRAP: I FOUND A CORAL SNAKE

Well, technically, my classmates saw it before I did, but I identified it (which was especially fun when a couple of them didn't believe me at first).  The scene went something like this:

Classmate: Snake!
Me: *pushes past the rest of my classmates to get to the snake**awed tone* That's a Coral Snake...
Professor: Yeah, except it's dead.
Me: *cries* *attacks deceased animal with camera*

So...yeah.  The Eastern Coral Snake (Micrurus fulvius) is one of the two Elapid species in the United States.  As the Elapid family of venomous snakes is the one I pay the most attention to, I would have probably had a bigger spaz fest, except the poor thing was dead, so I was trying not to break out in tears.

Here is a picture:

How Not to Get Bitten, Part I: Rattlers and Other Snakes

Subject: Stupidity Prevention
Homo sapiens sapiens

Many times, if a person is "attacked" by any animal, dangerous or not, the attack is more or less provoked, whether the "victim" was attempting to kill the critter or merely tell it how adorable it is and give it hugsies. This is my guide on how best to avoid being attacked by any animal (though some are more specific than others).  There are going to be several of these in order to prevent it from becoming so long it's illegible. 

Much of these "hints" involve merely using common sense, and a lot of this can be applied to most species of snake, venomous or not (non-venomous snake bites can still hurt, and they have a lot of bacteria in their mouths).  While I don't agree at all with the way most sources portray the rattlesnake as dangerous and scary, I do think that rattlers (as with most animals) deserve respect and can be "a force to be reckoned with," so to speak.  San Diego Zoo's Animal Bytes says it pretty well:

Rattlesnakes! The word alone fills most people with fear and anxiety because they have no experience in dealing with snakes. Yet we should learn to appreciate the rattlesnake as one of the most efficient and specialized predators on Earth. Many rattlesnakes struggle to survive as humans move in on their habitat. And some people feel that the only good rattlesnake is a dead one!

Baddest Spitting Cobra "Found" after Being Stared at for Years

Subject: Ashe's Spitting Cobra 

Naja asheii

According to a National Geographic article, in 2007, scientists "discovered" that a species of spitting cobra which they had been staring at for years was actually two entirely different species. Naja asheii, or Ashe's Spitting Cobra, was originally thought to be Naja nigricollis, the Black-Necked Spitting Cobra, despite the former being bigger, having more potent venom, and being capable of spitting further. Not to mention that N.asheii is brown.

Aside from these rather telling differences, scientists were more than content to allow N.asheii to remain a part of the N.nigricollis species classification, merely wondering if they were, in fact, different species. That is, until some brave, inquisitive soul decided to take tissue samples and analyze them, determining once and for all that there were, indeed, two species instead of one.

While not as well-known as the Mozambique Spitting Cobra (or M'fezi) (N.mossambica), or as big and "scary" as the King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah), Ashe's Spitting Cobra has taken the spot of longest, most dangerous spitting cobra away from the Black-Necked Spitting Cobra, to whom the title was given erroneously.

When Ophidiophilia Goes Horridly Wrong

This article disturbed me a bit, so I figured I'd share it.  Basically, a man was arrested for luring a young teen to his home with his venomous/dangerous snake collection, then used her love of snakes as a means of taking pornographic photos of her with aforementioned venomous/dangerous snakes, then had sex with her once she turned 16.

Those poor snakes.

Alien Invasions: The Most Delicious Things Since Sliced Bread...?

Subject: Lionfish/Zebrafish/Scorpionfish/Butterfly Cod/Turkey Fish/Dragon Fish
Pterois spp.

The lionfish are back in the news, but lobster season is over: MSNBC posted an article on 1 January 2011 imploring people to consume these annoying little buggers as a means of curtailing their massive alien invasion of the United States.  As stated previously, these fish are a danger to anyone diving or swimming in the areas where they have invaded, which, according to the MSNBC article, is "throughout the Caribbean and along the Atlantic Coast in recent years, most recently invading critical reef habitat off the Florida Keys" (for those who didn't read my first article on lionfish, here is the National Geographic web page with a photo of one species of lionfish, as well as a map denoting their natural habitat).

A Venomous Encounter: Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake

I was canoeing in the Florida Everglades last Friday and stumbled upon an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus).  I was unaware that they were capable of swimming, but here it is:

 My companion, Holli, and I also collaborated on the following haiku regarding the experience:

We sit and paddle

just around the river bend,

a rattlesnake lurks

A Day in the Life: How to Gator Way with Cold-Blooded Murder

I wrote this paper as a reflection of a class I'm in, and figured that, since I've not posted in a while, it would be germane for me to post it here. The essay is, essentially, a first-person perspective of the Florida Everglades from the point of view of an American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis).

5 Most Dangerous Spiders

Subject: Spiders
Order Araneae

I've decided that some of my posts are going to be in a "Top 5" format (not top 10 due to the limited nature of some of the categories I came up with), so I'm starting with spiders (read: getting the list I least want to do over with). I will probably do a list of Most Dangerous Scorpions and/or Most Dangerous Arachnids at some point, as well, and I'm definitely going to do a "Top 5 Animal Phobias."

Spiders are arachnids (NOT insects), and, while damn near all of them do possess venom, almost none of them are capable of harming humans due to fang size, venom potency, and several other factors. However, those that are capable of harming humans are pretty scary (says someone who is less afraid of a full-grown King Cobra than a tiny house spider), though not particularly deadly. According to The Spider Myths Site, maintained by the Curator of Arachnids for Washington's (the state, not the former president) Burke Museum, Rod Crawford, there are 50,000 known spider species. Of these, 25 (which, if you're wondering, is 0.0005%) have venom which can harm a human, and there will be no more than 3 species with this capability in any given area. The reasoning behind this is that humans are slightly larger than the average spider's diet, so these teensie arachnids don't really need to use their venom on us (yes, tarantulas are fairly large, but they aren't all that dangerous).

Necrosis of the Ass

Subject: Lionfish/Zebrafish/Scorpionfish/Butterfly Cod/Turkey Fish/Dragon Fish
Pterois spp.

I was reading an article in the 27 July 2010 edition of The Miami Herald (in the "Sports" section, of all places) about how lionfish have invaded the waters off of the Florida Keys (because the pythons and iguanas weren't enough of a problem), and are becoming a major concern because of the upcoming lobster "miniseason," during which time divers will almost inevitably come into contact with these fish.