>>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.

[ Hide Replies ]

• suboc stalking prey - pecoskid, Sun Aug 2 22:36:21 2009
• Pic#2 - pecoskid, Sun Aug 2 22:37:39 2009
• PIC#3 - pecoskid, Sun Aug 2 22:38:30 2009
• RE: PIC#3 - antelope, Sun Aug 2 23:32:08 2009
• RE: PIC#3 - BillyBoy, Mon Aug 3 08:00:51 2009
• RE: suboc stalking prey - mingdurga, Mon Aug 3 08:43:06 2009
• RE: suboc stalking prey - MikeMurphy, Mon Aug 3 13:13:26 2009
• cleaning - pecoskid, Mon Aug 3 18:54:01 2009
• natural behavior - pecoskid, Mon Aug 3 19:03:52 2009
• RE: natural behavior - antelope, Tue Aug 4 00:49:42 2009
• well said - dustyrhoads, Tue Aug 4 15:09:59 2009
• RE: well said - Elaphefan, Tue Aug 4 22:36:22 2009
• overlooked - pecoskid, Tue Aug 4 22:49:18 2009
• RE: overlooked - Elaphefan, Wed Aug 5 10:32:41 2009
• And yet... - dustyrhoads, Wed Aug 5 11:56:22 2009
• Elaphefan, I think you missed my point.. - dustyrhoads, Tue Aug 4 23:29:02 2009
• RE: Elaphefan, I think you missed my point.. - Elaphefan, Wed Aug 5 10:19:08 2009
• Yeah, you missed my point completely... - dustyrhoads, Wed Aug 5 11:08:47 2009
• RE: Elaphefan, I think you missed my poi - brhaco, Wed Aug 5 21:58:21 2009
• RE: suboc stalking prey - antelope, Tue Aug 4 00:48:16 2009
• RE: suboc stalking prey - RandyWhittington, Tue Aug 4 14:00:23 2009
• RE: suboc stalking prey - Shaky, Wed Aug 5 08:44:41 2009
• RE: suboc stalking prey - dustyrhoads, Wed Aug 5 11:16:20 2009