From jewellery to tattoos, the image of a snake that bites its tail is engrained in lots of our minds. However consultants argue that is simply symbolism we have inherited from historic mythology and never really a priority of herpetologists and snake scientists alike — with a few exceptions.
Rooted in Delusion: Ouroboros and Hoop Snakes
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The visualization of a snake biting its personal tail is deeply rooted in delusion. In historic mythology, a tail-eating snake known as an ouroboros, from the Greek phrase that actually means tail-eating. As an icon, it represents the ideas of continuity, eternity, rebirth and the cycle of life.
Hoop Snakes
It has been adopted by varied cultures and traditions all through millennia, including Ancient Egypt, Greece and Norse mythology. Equally, in more moderen Northern American folklore, there is a hoop snake legend — a snake bites its personal tail, makes a hoop and rolls round like a wheel to catch its prey and terrorize any attackers.
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“Snakes actually appear to have a variety of superstitions related to them,” says Matt Goode, an assistant analysis scientist on the College of Arizona College of Pure Assets and the Atmosphere. “They’re so completely different than we’re.”
Unusual Snake Behaviors: Trauma and Misery, or Merely a Mistake
The time period ouroboros has seeped into reptilian scientific literature, too. As an illustration, researchers named the genus of African armadillo girdled lizard the Ouroborus cataphractus due to how they coil up and chunk their very own tail to kind a protecting armadillo-like ball. Little scientific proof reveals snakes chunk their tails or attempt to eat themselves.
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Certain, there have been a few reported incidents of snakes munching down on their very own tails whereas in captivity, just like the well-known feminine Albino Western Hognose biting her tail within the UK in 2014, however this is not one thing scientists are involved about as snake habits within the wild.
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“What individuals see rather a lot are movies of snakes biting themselves on the physique. And the horrible information of all of that is that it is typically a snake that has been hit by a automobile or one thing like that,” says Bryan Maritz, senior lecturer on the Division of Biodiversity & Conservation Biology on the College of the Western Cape. “When snakes are in excruciating ache, they only lunge out they usually chunk. In the event that they’re actually in trauma, you generally see them biting their our bodies, and it is actually fairly horrible to observe.”
Snake Biting Itself
Atop trauma or intense stress, scientists speculate {that a} snake biting its tail might have mistaken itself for prey as a result of it is hungry or obtained confused whereas attacking one other snake.
“Snakes aren’t good, proper? Then you definately might need a snake that is consuming one other snake. After which it by chance simply begins swallowing what it thinks is the opposite snake and it might be its tail,” says Goode. “I might see that presumably occurring simply because they’ve such a robust feeding response.”
Some snakes go so far as consuming different snakes — particularly sure species of cobras, whose food plan primarily consists of different snakes, even venomous ones. “King cobras in India are a type of,” says Goode. “They may generally eat a person of their very own species.”
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