>>Throwing a live mouse in a cage with a snake teaches you nothing about the two animal's natural behaviors. The snake can't miss, and the mouse can't get away. That isn't natural.

And yet a suboc constricts and/or pins, a copperhead strikes and follows, an Eastern hognose snake deflates a live toad with a specialized rear fang, a gartersnake grabs and quickly swallows while prey is still alive, a snail-eater pulls a live snail from it's shell. Saying that a person -- especially a child or any uninitiated person -- cannot learn something about the natural behaviors of an organism by feeding them their live prey is like throwing the baby out with the bath water.

I think I understand what you're trying to say, that learning about nat. behaviors from captives pales in comparison to reading peer-reviewed literature. But most field biologists started out keeping herps, and in most cases, that was pivotal in their transition to becoming a professional biologist. In other words, they learned stuff that fed their interests to make better, more sophisticated inquiries.

[ Show Entire Thread ]