this post was submitted on 20 May 2024
317 points (97.9% liked)
Today I Learned (TIL)
6513 readers
6 users here now
You learn something new every day; what did you learn today?
/c/til is a community for any true knowledge that you would like to share, regardless of topic or of source.
Share your knowledge and experience!
Rules
- Information must be true
- Follow site rules
- No, you don't have to have literally learned the fact today
- Posts must be about something you learned
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
A threat's a threat, I doubt snakes are aware of the fact that they even have venom, much less that it only works on certain living biological entities. But I'm no Snake Scientist, so I could obviously be totally wrong.
There is alot of room for bias here. Is the fake foot a realistic proxy of an orgional? Can the snake recognize the difference? You don't fistfight a book or other object falling onto you. Would a snake bite a rock that shifted onto it when it bumps into it?
How much pressure is the fake foot applying? A person accidentally stepping on a snake would apply their whole weight because they didn't know it was there. Likely hurting the snake and warrenting a more significant and immediate response. I doubt the fake foot was applying the same force because of ethical reasons.
Edit: Phrasing
Who can never be sure?
Snakes only produce a small amount of venom and it takes days to replenish reserves. They have fine muscle control over how much venom they release and scientists have measured them releasing amounts of venom relative to the size of their target.
Not sure how aware they are of doing it but I wouldn't be surprised with all of a viper's sensory organs that they knew venom would go to waste on a prosthetic