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How intelligent?

I

Islandzoo

New member
Has any research been done anywhere on snakes behaviour and intelligence? Can they be trained at all?

I'm not sure how you would go about testing how intelligent a snake is, or it's cognitive abilities but could be interesting??
 
I've read from various sources that they aren't intelligent at all. Not nearly as much as most lizards. But it's said turtles are smarter than both, which I wouldn't doubt since I once had one that I trained to do a few tricks with only a flashlight and crickets.
 
Some scientists recently did an experiment about if snakes could learn. They put them into a box and put colored cards over various exits from the box. The scientists guided the snakes towards one exit with a certain colored card. The snakes eventually supposedly learned which colored card exit to go to. Or something like that anyway.
 
Learning Snakes

Well... not very scientific, but many of my snakes "learned" that when they get put in their food tub that they're getting fed. Most sit very still and look up. Fingers beware. I've seen an escapist snake "learn" how he got out the first time and head straight for the weak spot as soon as he was returned. I have one girl that knows me. When I'm cleaning her viv or changing her water, she knows that I'll take her out if she crawls up my wrist and does so almost every time.

Learn? perhaps not... more along the lines of conditioned responses. Just my 2 cents!

-Tonya
 
I'm sure some research has been done. I can't point to it off-hand, but I'm sure there is some out there. Just from what limited experience I have, it seems as though any training one might be able to do would be fairly limited.
Also, to me personally, it depends on where you draw the line between what is considered training and what is conditioning (if they draw the line at all). I realize training and conditioning are very similar, but it seems like there are instances where they can be distinct from one another.


EDIT: Dang I was typing my response up at the same time!

MaizeCrazy said:
Learn? perhaps not... more along the lines of conditioned responses. Just my 2 cents!

-Tonya
Click to expand...
 
I have two snakes in my bedroom--one corn and a ball python. When I feed my snakes, I take the thawed mouse/rat into my bathroom and heat it up with the blowdryer. I've always noticed that the two in the bedroom both come out when I heat food, whether it is their turn to eat or not. Well, the other day when I was blowdrying my hair, I noticed that both snakes were out and sniffing around. They have learned to associate the blowdryer with food. I think this is more conditioning than actual training, but I was surprised that they made the association.
 
I'd be willing to bet that if you were to try to put intelligence on a scale next to mammals, reptiles and especially snakes would fail dismally. That said, within their own needs, they are intelligent enough. If they learn a way out of an enclosure, they most likely will try there first again. They are also easily conditioned to behave in a certain way as Becky and Tonya have pointed out. It doesn't take them long to figure out that being put in a particular box means a mouse is coming their way, or in the case of the Green tree pythons, a door opening after dark. Beware your fingers indeed! I think they show more than the usual amount of curiosity as well, especially my pythons. They love to stretch out and check new things out, cameras, plants, the ceiling fan, anything at all. I think curiosity points to some intelligence. It's not Einstein, but it is enough for their continued survival and they've done that quite well for a long, long time!
 
MegF. said:
. . . but it is enough for their continued survival and they've done that quite well for a long, long time!
Click to expand...
That was going to be my response! They're intelligent enough to have survived!

D80
 
We should remember that being able to train an animal to do what WE would like it to do doesn't necessarily have as much to do with the animal's intelligence as it has to do with the animal's motivation to do what we want. We can manipulate an animal's desire to do what we want to some extent, but some animals are inherently more willing to do what we want than others. Ever tried to train a Shiba Inu? A Shiba Inu is as smart as a Labrador Retriever and might be even smarter, but it sure as heck is hard to train, because it sure as heck doesn't give a rat's a$$ about what you want. A snake doesn't care about what you want either, so I don't think you could ever train it to do much. Some things, sure, but not a lot. They just don't need to eat enough, and eating would be their only motivation for doing things a certain way.
 
desertanimal said:
We should remember that being able to train an animal to do what WE would like it to do doesn't necessarily have as much to do with the animal's intelligence as it has to do with the animal's motivation to do what we want. We can manipulate an animal's desire to do what we want to some extent, but some animals are inherently more willing to do what we want than others. Ever tried to train a Shiba Inu? A Shiba Inu is as smart as a Labrador Retriever and might be even smarter, but it sure as heck is hard to train, because it sure as heck doesn't give a rat's a$$ about what you want. A snake doesn't care about what you want either, so I don't think you could ever train it to do much. Some things, sure, but not a lot. They just don't need to eat enough, and eating would be their only motivation for doing things a certain way.
Click to expand...

That's not what training is for. They don't know what we want, and you're right, they couldn't care less, what we desire isn't even a factor. The reason training is linked with intelligence is because of the methods the animal has to execute to do something. Whether it be colors, buttons, pushing on things, they get a reward. If they remember and figure out what they did to attain that reward, and they associate that with it, that is a sign of intelligence. They don't do it to please us, they do it to get what they want.
 
Alsoknownas said:
That's not what training is for. They don't know what we want, and you're right, they couldn't care less, what we desire isn't even a factor. The reason training is linked with intelligence is because of the methods the animal has to execute to do something. Whether it be colors, buttons, pushing on things, they get a reward. If they remember and figure out what they did to attain that reward, and they associate that with it, that is a sign of intelligence. They don't do it to please us, they do it to get what they want.
Click to expand...


Spot on there.

its' a case of whether said animal has the intelligence to figure certain things out.
Its true, that most animals are trained using treats and you can't really do that with a reptile can you.
 
Hmmm...I am not sure about how intelligent they are but my girl definitely knows me. She always pops her head out of her cave to say hello when I am there!!! lol I don't know if that means anything but she doesn't do it with anyone else...lol

And my little boy is an escape artist, he found a place to get out and went STRAIGHT back there when I put him back!!!

Maybe they are just too dignified to allow themselves to be taught silly tricks..lol
 
Alsoknownas said:
The reason training is linked with intelligence is because of the methods the animal has to execute to do something. Whether it be colors, buttons, pushing on things, they get a reward.
Click to expand...
That's not intelligence. It's behavior modification.

D80
 
nehpets1 said:
How does a turtle handle a flashlight?

:bang:
Click to expand...

If I shined it on a certain area he would run there and look up, and I would proceed to give him a worm or cricket. I could shine it anywhere in the house.
 
Now some people say animals are not like us because they are not 'self aware'
I beg to differ.

I'm sure a dog or cat or bird is quite well aware of it's presence. If animals don't have some kind of emotional intelligence they would'nt pine when their mate/owner dies would they for example.

I appreciate that there are vast differences in the level of intellect in different species. But just because reptiles par example are poor communicators, does it mean they are not intelligent?? snakes for example, they have no limbs, they make no facial expressions, and they make no sound. How are they to communicate? How DO they communicate with each other?
 
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