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how intelligent are snakes?

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How intelligent are snakes?

If you assume Humans are the most intelligent living thing on Earth and that bacteria have no intelligence and scale it out say 1-10 with 10 being us and 1 being bacteria I'd put snakes (all species) somewhere between 3 and 7.
 
Essentially-

Bacteria- living, single cell organisms that can multiply- consuming certain molecules and generate other molecules which can be harmful or useful.

Viruses- there's some debate if viruses are living organisms. They are basically a string of DNA or RNA cased in a protective protein. They penetrate certain cells and inject their gene-code into the core of the cell- thus enslaving the cell and causing it to produce more copies of viruses. Once the amount of viruses hits a critical mass, the cell explodes and the viruses spread out to infect yet more cells.
Viruses are immune to antibiotics.

I won't describe every single difference, but that's the whiff of it.

Now, we really did come a long way from "intelligence in snakes" :rofl:
 
Erm I am not very sure if this was aimed at me or not, I don't think so but I am not sure?

Anyways- yes there's a difference between a virus and a bacteria. But they basically act the same way- and pathogens are bacteria(bacterias that cause disease)

I am not saying that people who think differently are wrong- quite the opposite! It is your right to believe as you would.

Yes it was in response to your posts. No one ever said that some bacteria don't cause disease. But there are far more beneficial bacteria than those that are bad. This is not an opinion but FACT. You could not live without bacteria. You should really do more research on bacteria or take a microbiology class. You would really learn a lot. Please be aware I am making these statements for you and others to learn and not out of any disrespect (tone is often difficult to establish when typing). If what you have said was a matter of opinion I would just have agreed to disagree. What I have said is not based on opinion.
 
Pushing Reset Button

How intelligent are snakes?

If you assume Humans are the most intelligent living thing on Earth and that bacteria have no intelligence and scale it out say 1-10 with 10 being us and 1 being bacteria I'd put snakes (all species) somewhere between 3 and 7.

I don't think intelligence can be measured at lease by todays standards/methods. The definition of intelligence is also highly debatable. I choose to just refrain from making assumptions based on so little and often unreliable information. :)
 
Yes it was in response to your posts. No one ever said that some bacteria don't cause disease. But there are far more beneficial bacteria than those that are bad. This is not an opinion but FACT. You could not live without bacteria. You should really do more research on bacteria or take a microbiology class. You would really learn a lot. Please be aware I am making these statements for you and others to learn and not out of any disrespect (tone is often difficult to establish when typing). If what you have said was a matter of opinion I would just have agreed to disagree. What I have said is not based on opinion.

I think you somehow misunderstood me. So first allow me to say that I am a certified Vet Technician, so thank you for your concern for my education but I assure you I do not base my statements upon "opinions".

I also really do believe that recommending that someone would go to get education -does indeed- insinuate a slightly patronizing approach, but I am sure it was not intended. I just think it is better not to assume you know how well educated or not someone else is :shrugs:

Someone made the statement that there are many beneficial bacteria- to somehow counter my point.
I don't think that makes sense, sorry.
Bacteria, like animals et cetera function as they were created to function. Many people mistake the fact that the side-effects of their metabolism is beneficial to the environment to be some sort of sign that they are "better" than us. When in truth, just like us, they consume those materials they need in order to survive.

You basically countered my point with claims that actually supported it. Unless I misread the dialogue completely.

I say that animals and bacteria act as they were created to act- to self-preserve. If predators were to gain from killing more, they would. A Bacteria that contributes to the environment is not different from one that does not- they both eat, defecate and do what they do as they evolved to do it. This behavior is sometimes used by people to exemplify how nature is better than us because animals and other organisms "preserve" it when in fact they are just doing what they were designed to do, there's no conscience choice in this and therefore should not be used to exemplify our faults. We breathe air, we are predators- I see no shame in that
 
I was simply being fecitious. My apologies.

Can we please get back on topic.


If you notice, it's hard for us to stay on target. One thing leads to another, and then another, and then another.

A scale of 1-10: Well, if you base your rating on how human intellegence - 0 ; but based on snake intellegence comparing to other snakes 7-8.
 
Kokopelli - I am not going to respond to your posts anymore in this thread because I will end up saying something nasty and I would rather not. Better to end the discussion while it is still civil.
 
The original point was How intelligent are snakes...
And it takes a certain amount of intelligence to associate ... Take the association part in the standard IQ test
MIKE

Ok, so my "smartest" snake, Choco, has learned that if the TV is on, I am in the same room, and if she comes out and waves around on the glass, it is highly likely that she will get to come out of her viv. I don't know why she wants to come out- probably not in search of food because she is my most-likely-to-refuse snake right now.

Choco will also come out of hiding if I knock on the viv, call her name, and wait several minutes. I then take her out for handling or feeding.

Last spring I got a robot vacuum cleaner. Choco quickly started coming out when the vacuum was running, obviously associating any noise/vibrations with my presence and the possibility of getting out. Unfortunately for Choco, the vacuum is scheduled to run by itself during the day when I am not home, now. I wonder if Choco comes out at that time.
 
Kokopelli - I am not going to respond to your posts anymore in this thread because I will end up saying something nasty and I would rather not. Better to end the discussion while it is still civil.

I am sorry that you feel that way- I stated an opinion, which you don't accept. I am not quite sure where you got the impression that I was "attacking" you- you said something, I disagreed. It's as simple as that.
 
Roombas. Neither intelligent or instinctual, and cannot be classified as showing any pavlovian responces!

JK!

I wonder if a computer program could be considered to make instinctual decissions. Hmm never thought about computers as living as AI isn't exactly to that point yet, but hmmmm.

Roombas would make for good comparison when talking about animal inteligence though.
 
Roombas. Neither intelligent or instinctual, and cannot be classified as showing any pavlovian responces!

JK!

I wonder if a computer program could be considered to make instinctual decissions. Hmm never thought about computers as living as AI isn't exactly to that point yet, but hmmmm.

Roombas would make for good comparison when talking about animal inteligence though.

why? :confused:
 
Just trying to add a little humor is all. Thread got a little tense for a bit.

Although I think we've nearly beat it to a pulp by now.
 
A LITTLE off topic, but...

Speaking of learning abilities - I have wondered over the years about the possibility of teaching a lizard (or maybe even a snake??!!) to drink from a tube such as we use for rodents. I suspect that many lizards (beardies would, I bet) could be taught that feat. Snakes seem less likely - but I wonder if anyone has ever tried this already? I never actually did try to see if it would work. If it could be made to work, it would be an interesting way to provide clean water.
 
You reckon their tongue is strong enough to shift the tiny metallic marble? I don't think it is but I can't say I thought to try
 
I think a Beardie could deff do it. But, I doubt a snake could just based off of how they drink from a standing pool of water.
 
I'm so smart, those snakes will never know its me in this costume!

Snake%20Needs%20Tums.jpg
 
A snake wouldn't use his tongue, he would push with his nose and it would run into his mouth. (I would use the wider tubes, and place a very shallow dish plate underneath. It would be shallow enough that it would dry up quickly, eliminating a source of bacteria growth.)

Yes, it sounds totally crazy, but I have seen or heard about really crazy things with herps over the years. And some actually turned out to be true. So I try not to discount anything as crazy until I am pretty sure it really is.
 
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