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Post by spudz03 on Nov 30, 2005 21:58:08 GMT -5
Do some animals or reptiles have the ability to hypnotize their prey? I've heard legends that some large snakes can literally cause its prey to freeze in their tracks by staring them down. Had a Red Tailed Boa years ago it seemed to be able to do that with mice. Also in the Disney movie Jungle Book Kaa the python attempted to hypnotize Mowgli, by staring into his eyes and softly singing "close your eyes and trust in me". OK its a cartoon but the myth had to have started somewhere.  |
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Post by Phantom of the Frozen One on Dec 9, 2005 18:59:22 GMT -5
Spudz,
In answer to your question, I don't think it's hypnosis per say, I think it's more of the animal trying to get a fix on their situation, much like a deer in the headlights of your car or how sometimes you can get really close to a rabbit before it decides to bolt off.
Hope this helps a bit,
[glow=white,10,300]Hypnotic Phantom[/glow]
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Post by spudz03 on Dec 9, 2005 19:38:43 GMT -5
I think there's more to it than that. As you say deer and rabbits are prey animals. Instinctively they keep still until they figure what's what, sometimes its a good tactic other times they offer the perfect shot.
Catching a deer in a spot light blinds them temporally, they won't move until their eyes adjust. They are not too bright, pardon the pun.
Look at ground squirrels they have the ability to stand motionless for long periods of time. If you don't know exactly where they are you'll loose them, as soon as they move you quickly spot them again. Most predators have specially keen vision when it comes to spotting motion.
Humans have adapted this behavior too, go out into the wilderness find a good spot and remain perfectly still, soon you'll start spotting other critters, it's a waiting game.
The thing with the snake was deliberate. When first put into the cage the mice freak, jump all over the place. They sense the danger and remain keyed to it.
The snake seems to select one of them and focuses its attention on it. Once it stared the mouse down it kept its head motionless while drawing it's body closer and closer. Once it had enough of a bend in it's neck POW no more mousy.
By the way this tactic does not work on other reptiles, tried feeding it lizards on a couple of occasions, they usually manage to jump out of the way and the snake ends up striking he terrarium wall.
You know we're all animals at our core. All our basic survival skills and abilities came from watching them. Over time we developed more complex brains and the abilities that came with it. Still I wonder how hypnosis started, could it be from some caveman watching a snake?
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Post by Phantom of the Frozen One on Dec 14, 2005 6:30:48 GMT -5
"Still I wonder how hypnosis started, could it be from some caveman watching a snake?" Maybe it started when another caveman started swinging a sundial...  [glow=White,10,300]Hypnotic Phantom[/glow] |
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Post by spudz03 on Dec 14, 2005 12:59:51 GMT -5
You do agree that the ancients did have knowledge far beyond what people had probably up until the early 18th century. Not only in the fields of math and science but also medicine. A Roman physician was said to perform cataract surgery, finely crafted surgical instruments have been found. You can't do that on a conscious person, not like stapling up a sword cut. By the way the Romans invented skin staples made them out of silver much less risk of infection then regular sutures. We didn't "rediscover" that until the early 20th century. With the spread of Christianity much of the knowledge of the pagan civilizations was dismissed, even forbidden. You can bet that included the satanic stuff like hypnosis.  |
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Post by spudz03 on Dec 17, 2005 2:59:00 GMT -5
"Still I wonder how hypnosis started, could it be from some caveman watching a snake?" Maybe it started when another caveman started swinging a sundial... [glow=White,10,300]Hypnotic Phantom[/glow] Swinging a sundial isn't too practical, early sundials are basically giant circles carved into the dirt. Seen a couple out in the desert. Why not a shiny object? Stone-age men delved deep into the earth looking for basically useless gems. OK they they had help from high tech torches (for stone-age technology) made of saw-grass but still it's not natural behavior. I mean they literally explored caves miles beyond the need for food and shelter. Modern cave explorers have found the bones of a few who didn't make it back, it's not a myth. Why? I mean they couldn't eat the things, stone-age people pretty much lived a hand to mouth existence. Eating sleeping, hunting and SEX, perhaps those shiny stones helped lure the females? Hey it still works today, dangling the right kind of stone in front an eligible lady goes a lot farther than simply providing her with a fancy meal or two, if you know what I mean? Spend any quality time at a mall lately? |
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