The curse of being serpentiform: Perceptions of snakelike animals in São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

Serpentiform body is a morphological adaptation present in several groups of animals. This body shape is often associated with snakes, which can result in the indiscriminate killing of animals. Despite their great socioeconomic and ecological importance, snakes are commonly associated with feelings of aversion, fear, and disgust, that may lead to the inhibition of conservation measures. The present work was conducted in the vicinity of the M'Boi Mirim Park, in São Paulo (Brazil) to record popular knowledge and to discuss public feelings and attitudes towards snakes and other elongated legless animals. We conducted semistructured interviews with 70 participants. The largest percentage of the participants identified snakes by the forked tongue and cylindrical body shape, obvious characteristics to human eyes. In an encounter with a serpentiform animal that may be a venomous snake, this behavior is advantageous as it is better to deal with a false positive than with a false negative. However, this result demonstrated a lack of adequate knowledge about the morphological traits exclusive to snakes. Many participants are afraid of snakes, which, along with misidentification, can cause disastrous encounters and lead to the killing of any snakelike animal. Furthermore, we found that even in a large city, legends and myths about snakes and snakelike animals are passed on through generations. Additionally, people are unaware that some snake populations or even species are under risk of extinction. Our results point to the need for an educational program that changes public attitudes towards snakes and snakelike animals at Municipal parks.

Assessing Brazilian reptiles' road‐kill risks using trait‐based models

“…Leg development (100%) Development of the members of the species ("legless," "one reduced pair," "leg-reduced" or "four-legged") Whereas serpentiform species (which have no limbs or have only reduced or vestigial limbs) are generally seen by society as aversive, frightening and disgusting (see Lima-Santos et al, 2020;Silva, Braga-Pereira, et al, 2021), they may be intentionally road-killed (see Assis et al, 2020;Secco et al, 2014) more often than other reptiles. Also, are usually faster, more agile and have greater site-fidelity than snakes (Andrews et al, 2006).…”

Assessing factors influencing students’ perceptions towards animal species conservation

“…This is the case of snakes in Brazil, which, as some works point out, are the target of aversion and fear on the part of people generally due to the risk they pose to human lives and their domestic animals ( Alves, 2012 ; Fernandes-Ferreira et al, 2013 ; Mendonça, Vieira & Alves, 2014 ). Additionally, snakes inspire many myths, proverbs and stories that are transmitted orally and that place these animals as beings associated with evil and that influence the way local people relate to these animals, generally provoking negative attitudes on the part of people ( Fernandes-Ferreira et al, 2013 ; Mendonça et al, 2012 ; Mendonça, Vieira & Alves, 2014 ; Lima-Santos, Costa & Barros Molina, 2020 ). This explain why snakes were the animals which generally had the highest scores on the harmful item among the students interviewed.…”

“…These circumstances make the conservation of the group have a very low popular appeal, unlike what happens with other marine animals such as turtles, dolphins and manatees ( Thompson & Rog, 2019 ; Lessa et al, 1999 ). Thus, while some species are annually culled in numbers that put their populations at risk as a way to retaliate against human-wildlife conflicts, others are used as flagship species in conservation programs ( Sabino & Prado, 2006 ; Nogueira & Alves, 2016 ; Lima-Santos, Costa & Barros Molina, 2020 ).…”

Bioecological representations and social characteristics of students influence their attitudes toward wild vertebrates

“…For example, our results show that reptiles such as alligators and lizards are related to strong fear or disgust in people [ 12 , 73 ]. Such fear these reptiles is mainly due to cultural constructions created in reaction to the possibility of conflicts and risks of accidents that these animals cause to humans [ 45 , 64 , 74 ]. We can say that caimans, along with snakes, are predators which are perceived as deadly (i.e., capable of killing humans), and therefore extreme attitudes of antipathy such as eliminating or extinguishing these animals were recorded in our study.…”