Text | Scientific Wormhole "Geese can warn against thieves, but also can scare away snakes. Their excrement kills snakes. People in Shu raise geese in their gardens, and snakes will go away..." - Su Dongpo's "Notes on Qiu Chi" Snakes are the most feared thing As one of the animal

Text | Scientific Wormhole

"Goose can warn against thieves, and it can also kill snakes. Its excrement kills snakes. People in Shu raise geese in their gardens, and snakes will go away..." - Su Dongpo "Qiu Chi Notes"

Snakes are One of the most feared animals, it is common to encounter snakes running into homes in rural areas, or encounter snakes in the wild. However, people think that goose droppings can kill snakes, and there is also a popular saying among the people that "where there are geese, snakes will run away". Where did the saying

come from? Is there an sworn hatred between snakes and geese? Today we will explore the mystery.

Can goose droppings really kill snakes?

Su Dongpo's "Notes on Qiuchi" said that goose dung can kill snakes. Now many people also think that goose dung can cause harm to snakes. Is this true?

Research shows that goose droppings can kill snakes, possibly because of the parasites in them. There are many parasites in geese, some are parasitic on the body surface, and some are parasitic in the body. Parasitic diseases have become one of the common and frequent diseases of geese.

Among various parasites, the zoonotic Cryptosporidium has attracted the attention of experts. This parasite can infect humans and animals such as poultry, birds, and reptiles.

The main sites of Cryptosporidium infection are the stomach and small intestine. After infection, animals often experience symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea. Cryptosporidium is transmitted through feces, which means that the feces of parasitized geese may also contain Cryptosporidium.

In an environment where goose droppings accumulate, snakes are easily affected and there is a certain chance of infection. The consequences of Cryptosporidium infection are more severe in snakes and lizards, which develop a progressive disease that becomes increasingly severe.

The stomach of snakes is a common infection site for Cryptosporidium. After being parasitized, snakes cannot digest food. If left untreated, it will usually starve to death.

We said that goose droppings can kill snakes, which may be for this reason. As for , goose droppings themselves are not fatal to snakes. However, goose droppings can kill snakes under certain circumstances, but it does not mean that snakes are afraid of geese because of this factor.

Because, there is no research to prove that snakes can sense Cryptosporidium in goose droppings. Therefore, the reason why snakes avoid goose droppings and are afraid of big white geese is not parasites. Please read below for the real reason.

Why is it said that snakes run away wherever there are geese? Why are snakes afraid of geese?

In fact, the reason why snakes are afraid of the big white goose is very simple. Firstly, snakes are afraid of the humans behind the goose, and secondly, because the big white goose is really too cruel.

· Goose: There is someone behind me

Goose is a poultry raised by people. Where there are geese, it means there are people. Moreover, geese have a strong sense of territory and often scream "should, should". Once they find that a snake has entered their territory, they will continue to scream.

Even in the middle of the night, under the loud call of the goose, the owner should wake up and find the "intruder" at this time. Snakes are afraid of geese partly because they are afraid of the person behind the goose.

·The fierce big white goose

Of course, the big white goose not only has people behind it, but also has the powerful hard power of and . The white goose has a tall body and a slender neck . The edges of its upper and lower beaks are jagged , which can increase friction.

When the big white goose attacks, it bites the enemy with its mouth, then twists its slender neck, and at the same time spreads its wings to incite it vigorously, causing great damage.

As the eldest brother among the "Three Rural Hegemons", Big White Goose is fearless . Let alone a snake, it is not afraid of even humans, and is "no different from an old person to a child." I believe that everyone has had the experience of being chased by the big white goose in the village when they were young. Looking back on it, they all have lingering fears.

A 76-year-old man from Zhejiang went on a trip and took a walk on the forest path next to the pond on the day he checked into the hotel. Unexpectedly, two big white geese rushed toward the uncle and attacked him, eventually causing him to become disabled at the eighth level.

As mentioned earlier, white geese have a strong sense of territory. If they feel that their territory has been violated, they will launch violent attacks on the intruders, often in groups.

Snakes are not very courageous. They are very scared in front of the fierce white geese. In this way, they will avoid the big white geese, and there will be a phenomenon of "where there are geese, all the snakes will disappear".

Snakes sense odor particles in the air through their tongues. When the smell of goose appears, they will choose to stay away. In addition, if senses the smell of goose droppings, the snake will also avoid it, because the presence of goose droppings indicates that the big white goose is not far away. In the eyes of humans, this becomes evidence that "snakes are afraid of goose dung". In fact, snakes are not afraid of goose dung, but of big white geese.

Extended reading: Are snakes afraid of and realgar ? An experiment will tell you the answer.

People have found that snakes tend to avoid realgar when they encounter it. Therefore, it is generally believed that snakes are afraid of realgar. So, is this true? CCTV's "Is It Real" column once conducted a series of experiments on this issue. In the

program, the reaction of four snakes to realgar was first tested. The first one is king snake (non-toxic). King snake has the habit of crawling along the base of the wall, so the staff placed the realgar near the base of the wall.

Faced with the realgar bag that appeared on the road ahead, Wang Jin Snake did not do any evasive behavior, but crawled over it very naturally. Then the staff brought two five-step snakes ( venomous snake ), one bypassed the realgar, and the other climbed directly over the realgar.

The fourth appearance is cobra . It shows strong avoidance behavior of realgar bags. It will avoid and retreat when encountering realgar bags, but it has no feeling of fear.

Why do some snakes avoid realgar while others do not? Experts explained that the olfactory sensitivity of snakes differs from snake to snake, and snakes that are more sensitive to smells will have more obvious reactions.

The smell of realgar wine is more pungent than realgar. So, how do snakes react to realgar wine? The researchers prepared two white mice, one was smeared with realgar wine and the other was a normal mouse.

2 little white mice were put into the snake cage. Soon, the normal white mice were attacked by the snakes, while the white mice smeared with realgar wine ignored the snakes.

A few minutes later, a snake finally took action, but it only took one bite and then let go. The white mouse smeared with realgar wine escaped. Then, the staff took another white mouse and applied it with realgar wine, but reduced the amount of application. Put the white mouse into the snake cage. Several snakes seemed a little afraid, but after a while, a snake bit the white mouse firmly.

In response to the experimental results, experts said that snakes are not afraid of realgar, and the reason for their avoidance behavior is just because they don't like the pungent smell of realgar and realgar wine.

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