Slim chance of encountering a venomous snake in NW Ohio
“I put my face close to the thick glass-plate in front of a puff-adder in the Zoological Gardens, with the firm determination of not starting back if the snake struck at me; but, as soon as the blow was struck, my resolution went for nothing, and I jumped a yard or two backwards with astonishing rapidity. My will and reason were powerless against the imagination of a danger which had never been experienced.”
This from Charles Darwin’s 1872 book, “The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals.” The question was whether logic and informed understanding of a situation could overmaster unreasoned fear. The answer was No.
It’s called ophidiophobia, an overpowering fear of snakes. The medical website WebMD reports that about half of the world’s population feel anxious about snakes, but only 2-3% suffer from its effects so severely as to affect their quality of life.
If you’ve got it that bad, just thinking about a snake can send your heart rate and blood pressure through the roof. Your mouth goes dry and you seesaw between sweat-drenched hot flashes and cold chills. You’re nauseated, lightheaded, disoriented and breathing becomes a challenge.
For some, seeing a snake gives them the ‘creeps’
So, maybe the sight of a snake doesn’t trigger a panic attack in you, but they still give you the creeps. They’re just, just…
Just what? What is it, exactly, that’s so unnerving about snakes? The danger they pose? We Ohioans know our chances of dying in a car crash are much, much greater than the possibility of being bitten by even a nonvenomous snake, let alone one of the state’s three much rarer venomous serpents. And yet, we don’t go into convulsions at the sight of a Honda Civic.
Maybe it’s their recurved fangs, scaled body and unblinking eyes that make our skin crawl. Or how they coil up on a woodpile and the snaky way they move. You know, there’s a reason J.K. Rowling named the mean kids’ House at Hogwarts, Slytherin.
But why should these traits trouble us while those of other creatures don’t? Each year, far more American’s are bitten by dogs seriously enough to require medical attention (800,000 with 30-50 fatalities according to the CDC) than are bit by venomous snakes (7,000-8,000 with 5-10 fatalities). And yet floppy ears and a long, whiskery nose don’t make us cringe.
Social and evolutionary psychologists have been studying this question for decades. Certainly, negative experiences with a snake and learned behaviors passed down from one’s parents or culture play a role. But evidence has been piling up that fear of snakes also has an evolved, genetic component.
Evolution may have led to a fear of snakes
Two related hypotheses have each garnered a good deal of experimental support. The Snake Detection Theory posits that predation by snakes on our primate ancestors in Africa played an important role in the evolution of anatomical and behavioral traits enhancing their ability to spot and avoid them.
The selection pressure to key in on specific characteristics like a long, thin body with an enlarged head must have been enormous. Even today, various studies report some 1.2-5.5 million people worldwide are envenomed each year, resulting in 20,000-94,000 deaths.
But whether humans (and many other animals) are genetically programed to fear specific snakelike features or are just predisposed to pick up their aversion through learning is difficult to determine. The Preparedness Theory suggests that we are born with brains that more easily learn to fear “evolutionarily relevant” characteristics like the red, yellow and black bands of a coral snake than the features of less potentially dangerous creatures like, say, the wings of a bird.
Here in Northwest Ohio, your chance of encountering a venomous snake is close to zero. Timber rattlesnakes are confined to nine counties in the southern part of the state, and are seldom seen even there. The highly secretive Massasauga rattlesnake is found in scattered bogs and swampy areas in another nine counties of formerly glaciated areas of the state, and are rare enough to be considered endangered.
More Americans are bitten by Eastern copperheads than any other venomous snake. But although the bite is reputed to be quite painful, they seldom inject enough venom to seriously harm a healthy adult. In Ohio, they are found in a variety of habitats in the unglaciated portions of the southeast.
And any snake you may see swimming in a creek or pond will most likely be the nonvenomous Northern watersnake and decidedly not a Water moccasin, which gets no further north than the southernmost counties of Illinois.
But I get Darwin’s response to that adder. Almost 40 years ago my brother and I were doing some off-trail work in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. Following Jeff through a tangle of rhododendron, I felt more than heard the buzz of the rattlesnake I was just about to step on. I instantly materialized some 10 yards away, with no idea how I got there.
Ken Baker is a retired professor of biology and environmental studies. If you have a natural history topic you would like Dr. Baker to consider for an upcoming column, please email your idea to [email protected].
