When I was taken on at graduate school back in 2006 (?) to do a behavior project with Cottonmouths there was another graduate student Evan Menzel who was like that -- he could spot 6-7 before I would see 1. I got better over time, but he was like a wizard in the field. He always said you needed a "search pattern" and that his was a bicycle tube (Cottonmouth pattern varies, but in the Crane Co. area a bicycle tube was pretty accurate for a general pattern), but I still couldn't find 'em like he could. I think he's still doing field research somewhere in the Midwest.
-- People who are around horses (like Beth) will tell you that most horses definitely react, seemingly instinctively to the presence of snakes.
That book sounds like an interesting read -- though my favorite has to be King Solomon's Ring by Lorenz (it's hilarious). I can't even fathom the guy's genius during his time . Of course, he had numerous birds 'imprint' on him throughout his work with instinctive behavior, so it makes for some funny pictures:
Gene
On Friday, September 12, 2014 7:41:15 AM UTC-4, Miles wrote:
On Friday, September 12, 2014 7:41:15 AM UTC-4, Miles wrote:
I recently read Lynne Isbell's "The Fruit, the Tree, and the Serpent", in which she argues that snakes (, fear of) played a major role in primate evolution, especially with respect to vision and cognition. She says the reason we see so well (in color, pattern recognition, etc.) is so snakes don't kill us dead.
One of the things she mentions is that a lot of people who have done fieldwork in snake-infested areas have similar stories: they somehow know the snake is there before they see it. It seems like magic, but really our brains are hard-wired to see snakes at a subconscious level.
It's a fascinating book -- not too long, not too technical.
Miles
On Thursday, September 11, 2014 10:51:18 AM UTC-4, Misha Gill wrote:Once, in Central Texas, I was descending a cliff to get down to a beautiful, green-watered limestone creek. My descent involved a lot of rock hopping. Halfway down, something in me said "look before you leap." On the next ledge lay a coiled rattlesnake. Just sunbathing in the early morning. I found another path down.
http://www.tpfr.org
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