A Real Smart Asp: Snakes Show Surprising Ability To Learn

[Bogertophis]

Hey, this is an old article from 1999 that I rediscovered in my files & thought you might enjoy reading, as these sort of studies don't happen often. So first a link & then I'll copy the article here:
(Note- this study was only done with corn snakes, so how much applies to other species is not answered & open for debate, & certainly for further research, which may or may not have been done.)

https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0208071717.htm

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A Real Smart Asp: Snakes Show Surprising Ability To Learn

Date:February 8, 1999Source:University Of RochesterSummary:New findings suggest that when it comes to learning and cognition, the humble snake may be quite a bit more like humans than anyone had imagined. David Holtzman, a neuroscientist at the University of Rochester, has found that snakes have a much greater capacity for learning than earlier studies had indicated. His research also indicates that, like humans, many snakes rely on sight to get around, and that older and younger snakes differ in how they gather and decipher information about the world around them.Share:

FULL STORY

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New findings suggest that when it comes to learning and cognition, the humble snake may be quite a bit more like humans than anyone had imagined. David Holtzman, a neuroscientist at the University of Rochester, has found that snakes have a much greater capacity for learning than earlier studies had indicated. His research also indicates that, like humans, many snakes rely on sight to get around, and that older and younger snakes differ in how they gather and decipher information about the world around them.

The findings appear in the January issue of Animal Behaviour.

Holtzman's study challenged 24 captive-bred corn snakes (species Elaphe guttata guttata) to escape from a black plastic tub the size of a child's wading pool. Cards mounted on the arena's walls and tape on its floor provided the snakes with visual and tactile cues to find their goal: holes in the tub's bottom that offer a dark, cozy spot to hide.

"These snakes appear to have a very strong aversion to the bright lights and open spaces found in the arena. When a snake is first placed in the arena, it tends to circle around the edge, looking for a way out," says Holtzman, an assistant professor of brain and cognitive science. His team found that given a nudge in the right direction, snakes are readily taught to find the exits -- and then recall how to use cues to find them in successive trials.

Simply stumbling into a hole isn't the only proof that the snakes are learning something, though. "Speed to find that goal is one of the measures which shows they're learning," Holtzman says. "On average, they take over 700 seconds to find the correct hole on the first day of training, and then go down to about 400 seconds by the fourth day of training. Some are actually very fast and find it in less than 30 seconds."

Studies dating back to the 1950s interpreted snakes' clumsiness with mazes as a poor reflection on their intelligence. Holtzman's peers regard his work as groundbreaking because unlike a maze, his arena confronts snakes with a situation that they're likely to encounter in the natural world.
"Early attempts to study snake navigation were awry because the studies used mazes as testing arenas -- as though snakes might be expected to run through mazes in the same way rats run through mazes," Peter Kareiva, a professor of zoology at the University of Washington, wrote last summer in Integrative Biology, of which he is editor-in-chief. "Of course, snakes do not encounter anything resembling mazes in nature, and they do not learn how to run mazes in laboratory conditions.

"The bottom line is that when tested in a biologically meaningful way, snakes exhibit spatial learning that rivals the learning abilities of birds and rodents," he concluded, "but the cues used by snakes [need] to match their ecology."

Holtzman found a few age-based differences in the cues snakes use to extricate themselves from the arena. Young snakes - - those up to three years old -- appear to be more adaptable and resourceful, using a variety of clues to find their way to the exit. But their elders seem to rely much more heavily on visual cues, becoming a bit befuddled if the brightly colored card marking the exit hole is tampered with.

"Actually, one of the interesting findings from our studies is that snakes use vision at all in locating places," says Holtzman. "They don't just rely on the chemical cues picked up by flicking their tongues out, as many snake biologists assume."

The experiments within the arena were surveyed by video cameras that can detect tiny foil hats fitted to the bright orange and red snakes, which can grow to lengths of four feet. The snakes can't be observed directly during experimentation, because the presence of a person might provide them a cue, disrupting the experiment. Researchers lurk just out of sight behind black curtains that wall off the arena, watching the snakes on closed-circuit television and using a computer to analyze and catalog their movements.

Holtzman hopes his work may someday have major implications for people, in the form of therapies to grow new neurons to compensate for brain damage.
"One of the most interesting discoveries in neuroscience and cognitive science is that new nerve cells, neurons, can be formed in some brain regions in adult higher-order vertebrates, including primates," says Timothy Nyberg, a Rochester undergraduate who joined Holtzman in the research. Neuroscientists know, for instance, that adult humans can produce limited numbers of new neurons related to the sense of taste and smell, as well as in the hippocampus, a brain region involved in memory and spatial learning. New neurons grow in other animals as well: Learning to store food engenders brain growth in birds, even doubling the number of hippocampal cells, and in lizards, if the hippocampus is removed, it can grow back -- and skills lost return as if by magic.

It's Holtzman's theory that what holds for snakes, lizards, and birds may also hold for their evolutionary descendants -- humans. If he and his colleagues come to understand how to control the mechanisms that govern neurogenesis in other animals, it could offer new therapies for the treatment of people afflicted by brain damage -- whether from accidents, strokes, or diseases like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. The work could also help to better pin down the as-yet fuzzy notion that babies who grow up in more stimulating environments develop more robust brains.

Holtzman and Nyberg were joined in the research by Anita Stone, a former research assistant; Terrence Harris, now a physician at Washington University; Guillermo Aranguren, now a graduate student at the University of Texas at Tyler; and Elizabeth Bostock, a physician at the University of Rochester. The research was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Research Resources.

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Materials provided by University Of Rochester. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

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University Of Rochester. "A Real Smart Asp: Snakes Show Surprising Ability To Learn." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 8 February 1999. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/02/990208071717.htm>.

[Snagrio]

I feel like a lot of animals are more intelligent than most give them credit for, and the reason we don't is because for many species (like snakes), they're hard for us to "read" compared to others. With more expressive animals such as dogs it's a lot easier for us to get an idea of what's going through their heads and gauge their smarts accordingly. That and like the study demonstrated, not every species can be tested in the same manner and experiments need to be adjusted for different lifestyles.

[Bogertophis]

I feel like a lot of animals are more intelligent than most give them credit for, and the reason we don't is because for many species (like snakes), they're hard for us to "read" compared to others. With more expressive animals such as dogs it's a lot easier for us to get an idea of what's going through their heads and gauge their smarts accordingly. That and like the study demonstrated, not every species can be tested in the same manner and experiments need to be adjusted for different lifestyles.

Yes, exactly that. Snakes are stoic & silent, not social & not easy to motivate- it's been a huge challenge to find humans that want to work with them at all, much less to find ways to test them, but I'm so glad that some have tried their best to do so. All creatures deserve to be understood & not maligned out of human ignorance.

And not only that, but as in this case, scientists may look for & can sometimes discover new things that may have implications for human health as well. One reason that having various life forms go extinct is bad for human life is that those animals or plants are no longer around for us to learn things from- there's always more that we don't know, besides the impact that their loss may have on other existing plants & animals.

[Homebody]

I feel like a lot of animals are more intelligent than most give them credit for...

Corn snakes might be intelligent. Spotted pythons...not so much. The same researcher tried this experiment with spotted pythons. It didn't go so well.

Spatial Learning and Shelter Selection by Juvenile Spotted Pythons, Anteresia maculosus
Anita Stone, Neil B. Ford and David A. Holtzman
Journal of Herpetology
Vol. 34, No. 4 (Dec., 2000), pp. 575-587 (13 pages)

Abstract
Spatial abilities are important in mediating natural behaviors in snakes, such as localization of refuges. Twelve spotted pythons (Anteresia maculosus) were trained to find the location of an escape hole in a circular arena, given a choice of eight holes. A snake was deemed to have learned the task if it found the goal on eight out of the last ten acquisition trials. Only half of the animals learned the task after 32 training sessions. Manipulation of sensory cues after training suggests that subjects differed in their responses to manipulations in the environment, suggesting the use of different cues to find the goal. Ten of 12 animals were also tested for shelter preferences. Snakes were given a choice of three different shelter sites (submerged, on the surface, or elevated) to determine the relevance of the arena escape task. Most snakes preferred elevated shelters and showed fidelity to shelters chosen on the first day. These results suggest that juvenile spotted pythons may be more motivated to seek elevated, instead of submerged, refuges, and this may account for the failure of half of the snakes to learn the spatial location task.

[Animallover3541]

Corn snakes might be intelligent. Spotted pythons...not so much. The same researcher tried this experiment with spotted pythons. It didn't go so well.

Spatial Learning and Shelter Selection by Juvenile Spotted Pythons, Anteresia maculosus
Anita Stone, Neil B. Ford and David A. Holtzman
Journal of Herpetology
Vol. 34, No. 4 (Dec., 2000), pp. 575-587 (13 pages)

Abstract
Spatial abilities are important in mediating natural behaviors in snakes, such as localization of refuges. Twelve spotted pythons (Anteresia maculosus) were trained to find the location of an escape hole in a circular arena, given a choice of eight holes. A snake was deemed to have learned the task if it found the goal on eight out of the last ten acquisition trials. Only half of the animals learned the task after 32 training sessions. Manipulation of sensory cues after training suggests that subjects differed in their responses to manipulations in the environment, suggesting the use of different cues to find the goal. Ten of 12 animals were also tested for shelter preferences. Snakes were given a choice of three different shelter sites (submerged, on the surface, or elevated) to determine the relevance of the arena escape task. Most snakes preferred elevated shelters and showed fidelity to shelters chosen on the first day. These results suggest that juvenile spotted pythons may be more motivated to seek elevated, instead of submerged, refuges, and this may account for the failure of half of the snakes to learn the spatial location task.

Hmm... I wonder if that has more to do with intelligence or just a lack of a natural drive to seek an underground shelter. Interesting nonetheless.

[Bogertophis]

Corn snakes might be intelligent. Spotted pythons...not so much. The same researcher tried this experiment with spotted pythons. It didn't go so well.

Spatial Learning and Shelter Selection by Juvenile Spotted Pythons, Anteresia maculosus
Anita Stone, Neil B. Ford and David A. Holtzman
Journal of Herpetology
Vol. 34, No. 4 (Dec., 2000), pp. 575-587 (13 pages)

Abstract
Spatial abilities are important in mediating natural behaviors in snakes, such as localization of refuges. Twelve spotted pythons (Anteresia maculosus) were trained to find the location of an escape hole in a circular arena, given a choice of eight holes. A snake was deemed to have learned the task if it found the goal on eight out of the last ten acquisition trials. Only half of the animals learned the task after 32 training sessions. Manipulation of sensory cues after training suggests that subjects differed in their responses to manipulations in the environment, suggesting the use of different cues to find the goal. Ten of 12 animals were also tested for shelter preferences. Snakes were given a choice of three different shelter sites (submerged, on the surface, or elevated) to determine the relevance of the arena escape task. Most snakes preferred elevated shelters and showed fidelity to shelters chosen on the first day. These results suggest that juvenile spotted pythons may be more motivated to seek elevated, instead of submerged, refuges, and this may account for the failure of half of the snakes to learn the spatial location task.

That's very interesting & I don't think it reflects badly on their intelligence- only that they evolved with different life skills to survive. They're very tiny compared to things that would eat them, so sitting on the ground is asking for trouble, but they climb very well, plus they blend in on tree bark very nicely- not to mention the attraction small lizards (a big part of their diet) have to run up & bask on trees. I've only known one spotted python (that I still have) & she prefers being above ground most of the time too.

That's very cool that you found this study- as it has implications for your little Antaresia too.

[Homebody]

That's very interesting & I don't think it reflects badly on their intelligence- only that they evolved with different life skills to survive. They're very tiny compared to things that would eat them, so sitting on the ground is asking for trouble, but they climb very well, plus they blend in on tree bark very nicely- not to mention the attraction small lizards (a big part of their diet) have to run up & bask on trees. I've only known one spotted python (that I still have) & she prefers being above ground most of the time too.

That's very cool that you found this study- as it has implications for your little Antaresia too.

I didn't post this because I found it persuasive. I posted it to tease Boger (she loves her spotted) and to highlight something I've noticed regarding herp science. This experiment was conducted using 12 snakes! How is anyone supposed to reach a significant result based on 12 snakes. I've noticed this in other studies too. I suppose snakes cost money that universities are unwilling to spend. The result is experiments like this one where it tough to know how much confidence to put into the findings.

[Bogertophis]

I didn't post this because I found it persuasive. I posted it to tease Boger (she loves her spotted) and to highlight something I've noticed regarding herp science. This experiment was conducted using 12 snakes! How is anyone supposed to reach a significant result based on 12 snakes. I've noticed this in other studies too. I suppose snakes cost money that universities are unwilling to spend. The result is experiments like this one where it tough to know how much confidence to put into the findings.

In that case, Hahaha! I'm glad you cleared that up, along with your conscience.

But I was thinking the same thing with that first study that I posted. I suspect there isn't much money for research grants using snakes- unless they can somehow tie their findings to human health as well, & "good luck doing that"? You can get very skewed results in ANY research where you're using too few test subjects- I mean, c'mon! This barely passes for "research", but it's all we've got-

It doesn't help that snakes aren't the most cooperative subjects either. This sort of research shouldn't be considered the "last word"- IMO- it's merely the beginning, & "food for thought".

[Homebody]

The experiments in these two studies are substantially similar, but one key difference further supports my point. The first experiment on corn snake used 24 snakes. The second on spotted only used 12 snakes. Why? I'll bet it's because spotteds cost about twice as much as corn snakes.

[Bogertophis]

The experiments in these two studies are substantially similar, but one key difference further supports my point. The first experiment on corn snake used 24 snakes. The second on spotted only used 12 snakes. Why? I'll bet it's because spotteds cost about twice as much as corn snakes.

Easily- they cost far more than corn snakes. Corn snakes are so plentiful these days, sadly they're "dirt cheap"- especially the "normals".