"I got a snake, man."
Hehe, and it's a lovely snake indeed. I used to know some swifts and anoles, so I'm personally convinced that there's a form of consciousness in reptiles. Obviously not the same as most human consciousness, but who are we to judge which is legitimate and worthy of life, and which isn't? You'd be the one to ask.... do snakes have unique personalities? To what degree can they rationalize and form judgments? Can they feel emotions? In a way, I'm asking you to describe to me what you think it's like to be Xelly.
Nice pics :D
Thanks! Yes she is. Anoles are awesome too. Their mating expressions are really funny. The ones I used to have did pushups and expanded their red throat fan. Super attractive I'm sure lol.
Hmm, that is an interesting question. They definitely have consciousness but from my observations it seems to be like they have two different kinds. One is more of a "hardwired" kind that drives basic behavior like eating, drinking, resting, crawling, yawning (Yes they yawn), mating, those types of activities, and the other seems much more "active".
The active kind really surprises me for a snake, they are smart enough to hide and camouflage themselves to avoid predation like bury themselves in the sand or grass or hang from tree branches to nab any food that passes by. Mine goes to the bathroom outside instead of in her enclosure, she also crawls up on the glass and will stay there when she wants to go outside. Really weird stuff like that.
I think they can feel basic emotions, because you will definitely know when she is mad or upset or is starting to get that way. They start getting really fussy with loud exhales of hissing, if you handle them too much, and that is a good indication they are getting irritated and to put them back and leave them alone for a while. They have also been known to give warnings too, so I think they show a good bit of intelligence, just no rationalization or seemly any sense of self.
To be her would be pretty boring (or relaxing depending on how you look at it). She doesn't do a whole lot on most days, just crawls around, eats and drinks and occasionally goes outside.
Thanks, good answer... makes sense. Supposedly us mammals evolved through a reptile-like common ancestor long ago. The way I've come to think of it (not sure this is accurate or not) is we've got a reptilian brain, and all it entails (pros and cons), plus we've also got a mammalian brain and a primate brain kinda stacked on top of that, with all the advantages and evolutionary baggage those entail. Your take on it sounds similar to other accounts I've heard, and the opinion of a lot of researchers. We can't really know what it's like to be anything other than who we are, I guess, but we can try to empathize with others. I guess a snake can't really understand how it feels to have limbs. :)
Yeah from what I know we have the archipallium which is the R-Complex or reptilian brain as it is commonly called, then over that we have the paleopallium which is the limbic mammalian brain and over that we have the neopallium which is the new mammalian brain or "neo-cortex" which is found in superior mammals like humans and primates.
Yep, We can certainly do our best to empathize and not commit evil deeds to each other and other species.
You got me curious enough to do some research and found some interesting things. According to national geographic, snakes DID used to have legs. They found some fossils of old snakes that actually had legs.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2015/07/23/a-fossil-snake-with-four-legs/
Crazy huh! and apparently they still carry the genes to grow limbs they are just turned off and would need the right mutations to flip the gene expression back on.
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/10/snakes-grow-legs-evolution/snakes-grow-legs-evolution/