The evolutionary science behind our fear of snakes

Primates and humans may be hard-wired to avoid the reptiles at all cost

Rattlesnake
(Image credit: (Courtesy Shutterstock))

Lots of people are terrified of snakes, despite the fact that most of us simply don't run into too many of the hissy predators anymore. Now everyone from Indiana Jones to Samuel L. Jackson to my mom may have just had their ophidiophobia vindicated by evolutionary science.

In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of biologists discovered that a fear of snakes may have evolved as a highly efficient survival mechanism in primates, possibly to help them (and us) avoid pesky and potentially life-ending bouts with the remarkably complex poison found in snake venom.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Chris Gayomali is the science and technology editor for TheWeek.com. Previously, he was a tech reporter at TIME. His work has also appeared in Men's Journal, Esquire, and The Atlantic, among other places. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.