Many people are frightened when they see snakes, but those who keep cats find that cats are not afraid of them, and they often come forward to provoke snakes, why are cats not afraid of snakes?
Psychological advantages
The expression "curiosity kills the cat" comes from an English proverb. According to Western legend, a cat has nine lives and will never die, but eventually dies from exploring new things. Cats dare to attack snakes because of the cat's curiosity, and the cat's curiosity comes from its genes. There are 14 genera and 40 species of cats, including cheetahs, lions and tigers. Cats are curious creatures. Their most prominent characteristics are aggressiveness, agility, dodging, and bouncing. With a violent murderous temperament, cats can basically suppress their opponents in front of animals of the same size, they are one of the species at the top of the food chain. The ancestors of cats are considered to be saber-toothed tigers and ancient cats, and they also share the characteristics mentioned above.
The ancestors of cats, as animals at the top of the food chain, were able to roam everywhere and were rarely afraid of other creatures. This curiosity has brought many survival resources for cats, and their competitiveness and strong curiosity have become their survival advantage. The curiosity gene is passed down in cats that have evolved to date, so that cats are not afraid of snakes. Regardless of whether the snake is venomous or not, cats will play with snakes with their palms, which has certain psychological advantages, this is one of the reasons why cats dare to attack snakes.
Physical advantage
Snakes are cold-blooded animals, have no mechanism to regulate body temperature, cannot maintain their own body temperature, consume very little energy when not exercising, so they cannot eat for several months, but the drawback is that the snake's ability to attack is not good, and they unable to maintain high-intensity output. Cats are warm blooded animals. The disadvantage of maintaining a constant temperature is that they often require energy from the outside world, but the advantage is that they can maintain their capacity for a longer period of time, and their physical strength is superior in the fight against snakes.
Speed advantage
An important reason why cats dare to attack snakes is because cats react very quickly and believe in their own speed. In the eyes of ordinary people, snakes move very quickly over short distances and can instantly bite their prey, but in the eyes of cats, all of this is really slow motion. Cats always work out the large joints of their core and their large muscle groups. This is their normal life. This gives the cat a super explosive power. It is rumored that the speed of the neural reflexes of cats is 7 times that of snakes. This might be a bit of an exaggeration, but his reaction speed was definitely faster than that of a snake. Agile reaction speed and explosive power can easily dodge snake attacks.
Lack of snakes
Snakes have very poor eyesight and can only find objects based on heat sources, and their hearing organs are only the ear pillars, without the outer ear and tympanic membrane, and their hearing is slow. . In addition, the snake's attack route is simple, mostly along the direction of the snake's head, rarely rotates, and the effective attack distance is only half of the snake's body. In the fight with the cat, the speed is less favorable. and hard to escape.
Cats usually use their palms to lure snakes, teasing back and forth using up the snake's physical strength. Snake resistance is very bad. The fast attack is equivalent to a cat running for more than 500 meters. After a few turns, the snake's energy was rapidly consumed, and the reaction speed began to slow down. The whole body of a snake is cartilage, which is very easy to sprain and fracture. At this time, the cat uses its teeth and claws to tear the snake's skin. Round attacks and beatings can easily damage the snake's internal organs. Most snakes die from organ damage. Damage, so it looks like the snake is pretty pathetic.
Cats and snakes are usually superior in cat-to-cat fights, but that doesn't mean cats can be immune to snake venom, it's just that the neurotoxins from some venomous snakes are more easily recognized by the human body and more harmful to the body. human body. Cats can also be poisoned but not like humans. very serious. The reason why I think cats are not afraid of snakes is because people are too afraid of snakes. Most people are afraid to die by snakes. Cats can play with snakes between their palms, and people can easily clean cats. be an eternal law of nature.