The Stereotypes

[Kaali]

Warning: long rant

People who find interests in things that are outside of the norm are looked at as "weirdos" and "odd-balls" and sadly reptile keepers tend to fall into that category for a great many of the general public. One of the stereotypes that surrounds us reptile keepers is that most of us are either hippies, drug dealers/addicts, or tattooed and pierced all over their bodies and worship Satan, too bad i did nothing of this . Many people think we are monsters who sadistically love to offer live preys to their horrilbe reptiles and enjoy seeing them dying in a slow and painful death (according to ignorant people), of course there are bad apple but due to these people all reptlie keepers are put in bad light. The truth is different, the truth is that reptile keepers are a wide and varied bunch, there's greater diversity between the types of people who keep reptiles. Reptiles are different from mammals due to their evolution that influenced their intelligence, emotional sphere (reptiles are not emotionless creatures, their emotions are different though) etc. and each species fits a specific niche in the ecosystem and they have specific biological traits which enable them to survive in that environment. Not all "pet" really require interaction opportunities with playing, fetching balls, cuddling on the couch and teaching tricks infact even if i love dogs, cats etc i prefer reptiles because i don't have to teach those stupid tricks and i like and animal that is not clingy (of course there are some dog breeds that are less clingy than others as well as there are some cat breeds that are very clingy, not to mention all individual differences). Reptiles offer little in the way of affection, but they do make up for it in interesting habits and behaviors which make them fun to observe and learn from, for example reading your experiences in keeping reptiles, i have noticed many personalities in your reptiles.

Poorly educated people or worse think "reptiles= danger" but they ignore the fact reptiles come in a variety of sizes, shapes and colors. Most species are smaller and really aren’t capable of inflicting any serious wounds. Some can attain quite large sizes and under the right circumstances are capable of inflicting serious injuries or even causing death. However, the same goes for those who keep horses, cattle or even some larger breed dogs. Human deaths have been attributed to each of those mentioned annually but no reptiles are dangerous animals independentely from the fact they are responsible for a very small number of deaths and when there are incidents most of cases are people who jumped into keeping more advanced reptile species before they are ready and the most dangerous part of this is the hype they get from the media. Organizations such as the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Born Free USA, and a number of others (like in my country) fight against the private possession of alternative pets. They greatly exaggerate claims of deaths due to the more challenging species and even when they’re being honest on the numbers, they do their best to make it sound like an astronomical number. They take isolated cases of unscrupulous dealers who have been caught illegally importing species and blow them out of proportion to sound as if it is the common practice of the reptile trade, i call this attitude cherry picking and it is very annoying since it is the act of pointing to individual cases or data that seem to confirm a particular position while ignoring a significant portion of related cases or data that may contradict that position.

Sometimes i try to ignore these behaviours but there are times where i get really mad and not because i, as future reptile keeper, can be put in a bad light (i don't care about what people think of me) but because reptiles are the one that get to lose. Reptiles are so valuable and the reason is: education. People have feared snakes and other reptiles since our origins, most of this is due to the unknowns. Natural fear of what we don’t understand has perpetuated a hatred for reptiles, especially snakes, by mankind for as long as we can remember. People having the ability to experience these animals up close and personal has opened many eyes to their plight and has gathered more support for their conservation efforts. The ability to connect people with these animals and understand them better makes all the difference in the world. Reptiles can help us to expand our mind and people may have snake to thank for our acute vision and brain evolution since a new study of the monkey brain suggests that primates are uniquely adapted to recognize the features of slithering threat and react in a flash. The results lend support to a controversial hypothesis: that primates as we know them would never have evolved without snakes. http://www.pnas.org/content/110/47/19000

I know it is a controversial study and i find it very interesting, but i wonder if there are grounds for any claims that evolution has given us snake-detecting pulvinar cells but besides this i think people should stop to "think" with other people's minds and should start to educate themselves.