Watch out! You Almost Stepped On That Snake!
While fishing small streams in East Texas, I often come across many different types of snakes. Most of these limbless reptiles are harmless, but there are a few that can send you to the nearest emergency room. Even after innumerous encounters with both venomous and non-venomous serpents, my heart still skips a beat when I encounter them in the wild. This could be due to an inherent primordial recognition of danger that humans have developed over eons. Anthropologist, Lynne Isbell, from the University of California, seems to think that humans have evolved over millions of years to have an incredible ability to see snakes. She believes we can still recognize them even when they are hidden or well camouflaged. We can discern the potential danger of a snake before our conscious brain has time to process and comprehend what it's actually seeing. The following article from Gizmodo.com addresses Isbell’s theory. The article also mentions other related theories regarding human evolution and snakes.
https://io9.gizmodo.com/are-humans-hardwired-to-detect-snakes-1453865235
When I encounter a snake, I usually take a couple of pictures and do my darndest to identify it. Below are pictures of various species of snakes that I have encountered throughout East Texas. I’m not a herpetologist but I’ve done my best to identify them correctly. If you see a mistake, don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments at the bottom of the article.
(Click on the thumbnails to maximize the images)
