Giant snakes commonly attacked modern hunter-gatherers in Philippines
Humans have an ambivalent relationship with snakes. The legless reptiles are often feared and reviled, becoming stand-ins for the Devil and movie monster characters; yet many people have grown to love snakes, raising large, even dangerous, specimens as pets. Now, new research suggests that the ecological role between snakes and humans, as well as other primates, is more nuanced than expected. After spending decades living among the Agta Negritos people in the Philippines, anthropologist Thomas Headland has found that the hunter gatherer tribes were quite commonly attacked by reticulated pythons (Python reticulatus), while the people themselves had no qualms with hunting, killing, and consuming python.
It is my considered opinion, that the Agta Negritos people and other tribes around the world who kill snakes, be it for food or other purposes, (clothing, shoes, decoration in booze bottles, etc.,) are not working hard enough or eating / using enough.
ReplyDeleteIt is also my honest opinion that anyone keeping, breeding, or importing snakes of any type, should be fed to their stock.