TheBanyanTree: Snakes Alive!!

[Julie Anna Teague]

Quoting Sachet <MountainWhisper at att.net>:

> We'd have to ask Mikey, but I think most of us have an inbuilt
> instinctive visercal reaction to snakes. Probably a smart survival
> instinct since most of us don't know what Mikey knows and can't
> handle them safely.

I don't get too freaked out by the thought of them.  And if I know 
where they are, I can be curious and not fearful, but it's the element 
of surprise that can make me scream.  You think there is a stick, as 
your foot plummets towards the ground for your next step, and then it 
slithers.  Or, as I've done while mowing around hanging vines in the 
wild and wooly parts of our yard, I come eye to eye with Mr. Snakey in 
a surprise encounter.  Surprises always make me scream, even if it's 
just my son sneaking up on me, which he often does despite me telling 
him he's going to give me a heart attack, and then who will be 
laughing?  I saw a nature show that said monkeys are innately fearful 
of snakes, so apparently we come by the fear naturally through our 
primate ancestry.