Hooding cobras can get ahead of other snakes in the ability to evoke human fear

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11310%2F25%3A10489877" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11310/25:10489877 - isvavai.cz</a>

Výsledek na webu

<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=Mp_iU9RUKL" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=Mp_iU9RUKL</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00114-024-01952-2" target="_blank" >10.1007/s00114-024-01952-2</a>

Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

Hooding cobras can get ahead of other snakes in the ability to evoke human fear

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

Fear of snakes is common not only in humans but also in other primates. Consequently, snakes are salient stimuli associated with prioritized attention, early detection and emotional significance. This has been interpreted as an adaptive evolutionary response of the primate brain to a risk of envenoming by a hidden snake. However, the struggle between mammals and snakes is not one-sided. Humans and carnivores regularly kill snakes, and thus snakes develop deterring defensive behaviour that may directly evoke enhanced fear. Here, we show that snakes depicted in threatening posture evoked on average more fear than those in resting posture. Significantly, African (Somali) and European (Czech) respondents considerably agreed on the relative fear elicited by various snakes. Nonetheless, not all defensive postures are equally efficient. Threatening cobras were perceived as top fear-evoking stimuli, even though most of them are not considered very frightening in resting posture. This effect can be attributed to their conspicuous hooding posture which evolved into an efficient warning signal for mammalian predators. Our result demonstrates that cobras are more effective than other snakes in the ability to evoke human fear by a simple behavioural display-hooding. This can be primarily explained by the behavioural evolution of cobras which successfully exploited pre-existing cognitive mechanisms of mammals. Whether human ancestors cohabiting with deadly venomous cobras further improved their fear response to hooding is uncertain, but likely.

Název v anglickém jazyce

Hooding cobras can get ahead of other snakes in the ability to evoke human fear

Popis výsledku anglicky

Fear of snakes is common not only in humans but also in other primates. Consequently, snakes are salient stimuli associated with prioritized attention, early detection and emotional significance. This has been interpreted as an adaptive evolutionary response of the primate brain to a risk of envenoming by a hidden snake. However, the struggle between mammals and snakes is not one-sided. Humans and carnivores regularly kill snakes, and thus snakes develop deterring defensive behaviour that may directly evoke enhanced fear. Here, we show that snakes depicted in threatening posture evoked on average more fear than those in resting posture. Significantly, African (Somali) and European (Czech) respondents considerably agreed on the relative fear elicited by various snakes. Nonetheless, not all defensive postures are equally efficient. Threatening cobras were perceived as top fear-evoking stimuli, even though most of them are not considered very frightening in resting posture. This effect can be attributed to their conspicuous hooding posture which evolved into an efficient warning signal for mammalian predators. Our result demonstrates that cobras are more effective than other snakes in the ability to evoke human fear by a simple behavioural display-hooding. This can be primarily explained by the behavioural evolution of cobras which successfully exploited pre-existing cognitive mechanisms of mammals. Whether human ancestors cohabiting with deadly venomous cobras further improved their fear response to hooding is uncertain, but likely.

Druh

J_imp - Článek v periodiku v databázi Web of Science

CEP obor

—

OECD FORD obor

10613 - Zoology

Projekt

<a href="/cs/project/GA20-21608S" target="_blank" >GA20-21608S: Mezikulturní studie reakce na hady v kolébce lidstva: Je strach evolučně konservativní?</a><br>

Návaznosti

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Rok uplatnění

2025

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Název periodika

The Science of Nature : Die Naturwissenschaften

ISSN

0028-1042

e-ISSN

1432-1904

Svazek periodika

112

Číslo periodika v rámci svazku

1

Stát vydavatele periodika

DE - Spolková republika Německo

Počet stran výsledku

13

Strana od-do

1

Kód UT WoS článku

001372546500001

EID výsledku v databázi Scopus

2-s2.0-85211187973