A recent news editorial about the current Michael Jackson fiasco quoted, as "evidence" of his disturbed mental state, the following:

"There is a revealing anecdote about him in A Scott Berg's biography of Katherine Hepburn: Berg recalls that when the 25-year old Jackson came to Hepburn's house for dinner, he appalled the actress by telling her how he and his house-guests often gathered for entertainment to watch Jackson's pet boa constrictor, Muscles, capture, constrict and consume a helpless rodent thrown into the snake's glass cage. "

(from an Editorial in the "Telegraph" from the UK.)

Myself, I don't know that I would find watching my snake capture, kill, and then eat a rat "entertaining", but watching him manipulate the rat into position and then swallow it is incredibly fascinating. I also have a friend who used to keep Kingsnakes. He would sometimes catch a young rattlesnake while out on his desert forays, and would invite some of his buddies over to watch a Kingsnake capture, subdue, and then consume the rattler. Does that mean my friend is mentally ill, or capable of child molestation? Or does the fact that he has a degree in biology make it OK to be fascinated by the way snakes are engineered to survive?

Whether by creation or evolution (no religious debate here), snakes are a fascinating bit of biological engineering.