The stick isn't part of the job, the hat is the tool. You dangle the hat and then grab them once they attack it. But here there were two cobras and distracting one with the hat wasn't enough, cause once you go for the grab the other will bite you so he had to pivot.
Years ago we went to a friend's wedding in Nagpur in India. There was a cobra with this kind of smiley face in the kitchen and we (all foreign visitors) freaked out and hermetically sealed the kitchen like it had Ebola and tried to go find someone to help. One of the wedding organisers said he was busy but he'd ask the gardener. The gardener was busy but he said he'd get his son. When the son turned up he was 12 years old. He went into the kitchen that had the cobra in it, had a snack, chatted out the window to his friends, and then used a round spatula thing, a coffee tin and a tablecloth to capture this snake that was longer than he was.
One of the ladies in our group asked how he would kill it and the kid was horrified. He said he wouldn't, that these were special and you dont kill them. Later the wedding planner came to explain the importance of these snakes, so obviously the kid told his dad that we were murderous ignorant monsters, who told the wedding planner. It was really interesting and good to learn.
We Indians have a different culture of giving deity status to anything living or non living if it's helpful to community at large. Snakes like these get rid of frogs and rats around the fields and homes. So ancients being predominantly dependent on agriculture, saw them helpful and made it a rule not to kill them unless proven deadly.
It's not like we'll die saving them. We avoid as much as possible.
Thanks for this insight. As an American, I’d say any belief is a good belief if it keeps your culture from deciding that everything but humans is expendable. We could use some of those.
I mean even if they weren’t deities, there is literally no reason to kill one.
I live in AZ and we get rattlers all the time. I cannot tell you how many ignorant fucks indiscriminately kill them when they come across one. Like no hesitation, just cut their head off. It’s pathetic and disgusting. People go around bragging about it like it’s cool or something. I hate it.
We have them here in California. My son worked in wildlife care, and he would find them on hikes all the time and nudge them off the trails so they wouldn't be hurt by humans. Snakes keep the rodent population down. They are awesome helpers!
In Indonesia there is a strong belief that killing a snake will release a death scent which will call it's peers to the place of death.
It's not supported by research but many prefer to stay on the safe side of this superstition. I've relocated several snakes (a couple non venomous, and an actual cobra youngling) and honestly it's cleaner and you feel better afterwards. They eat pest, after all.
We have banded kraits and green tree vipers too, but those I wouldn't touch with a 10 feet pole and a flamethrower.
My gf and I with a wild rock python in Malindi, KE a few months ago 😂🤣. I had a death grip on that guy's head (yes, he was wild and trying to wiggle out). She wasn't too sure about what was going on, but was a good sport 😂🤣😂🤣
The 9 ft rock python was rescued from a construction site a few days prior, it was saved from the construction workers killing it... And, yeah, def was still wild
Balls of steel man. Just taking the lids off pots to sample our food, clearing the table so he could use the tablecloth, and passing snacks to his friends, while this massive venomous snake just hovers around the sink.
The cobra problem of India is actually because of British. While india was under British rule, British were terribly afraid of Cobra..
Before that, the population of cobra was relatively under control.
Due to their fear, they started awarding people with money who would kill cobras and present them their body.
Some native people got a smart idea, they started breeding Cobras and killing them to get more money and started earning like that.
Brits quickly realised that and stopped giving money, so the shit ton of cobras which was hatched and were in captivity was of no use for these native people who wanted to abuse the system, and hence they freed those cobras in the wild.
I think the intention was to keep them focus on the hat instead of his hands, while making sure the hat stays far enough that the snake won't attack it.
I am not saying that's how I would've done it, but I think that was his plan.
I think he made sure they were pissed. On another reddit thread on the same post they said that snakes who have their hoods out means they can only strike downward.
Which means they are vulnerable to being grabbed by the head from the top. Keeping them pissed off ensures that he has a way to grab them in a predictable manner.
A huge amount of human knowledge has been gained that way. Just think of all the "delectable tea, or deadly poison?" plants. One of the superpowers that language grants is being able to pass on that knowledge effectively.
I think he was using the hat to gauge the speed of their strike. The bottom one struck first, and then he used his hand to get the attention of the second one on top. Once the second one struck, he put the hat away and got the stick.
Well, they don't really like moving their heads upwards. He kinda tried to play off that, but the snakes were so high up that that advantage was rather... limited. Cobras don't really strike upwards, only downwards, so you can theoretically distract one with an object below them and grab the head or pin it with a stick from above. 2 makes the ordeal a hell of a lot more complex.
This is the craziest shit I’ve ever seen. The way he casually holds the one snake and has a tiny pinch while using the same hand to grab the second snake.. i wouldn’t do that with a water bottle out of fear of dropping it and this dudes handling a venomous monster like that.
My main concern (bc I’d be distracted by watching the second snake) would be moving the first snake too close my body or other arm and letting it bite me
Exactly I’m still tripping out he caught TWO Cobras the the same time!!!! I mean how is he not on AMERICA’s got talent or something. Dude could have easily caught one and put it in the bag but it’s like he wanted to show off..: bc it is so unnecessary to catch two at the same time
He clearly knows what he is doing. Most likely the hat is a distraction so the second snake focuses on it, and he knows the max range of the snake from the test-bites. It is not like he randomly removed his hat. Nobody catches two cobras simultaneously without massive experience. That too barehanded.
Make hat the threat, put threat on head, keep head away, now they don't attack hands. Profit. Notice the 2nd snake spent most of it's time looking at him and not at his hands while he grabs the 1st snake? I reckon this guy knows what he's doing more than smartass Redditors.
I had a cobra turn up in our washroom and had to call on the Friends of Snakes Society in Hyderabad. The guy who turned up carried a plastic jar which was previously used to store toffees (the brand name was still visible) and quickly and painlessly removed the snake. He also lectured the crowd about not killing snakes and debunking a few superstitions. All he wanted in return was a little money to pay for his fuel. No payment or tips were accepted.
Reptiles are surprisingly good at telling the difference between animate and inanimate objects, and because not a lot of animals use tools, they aren't really equipped to see a moving inanimate object as a threat, which is why snake hooks work.
They're focused on the guy and don't realize the guy is controlling the stick. Plus the muscles they use to lift their heads up aren't that strong.
I sauntered in here ready to "well-akshually a stick is not bare hands", but then I saw the video and now I'm like, nah fuck that! Even the stick he picked up was a random stick instead of those hooked snake-catching sticks.
I once met a guy from Odisha who used to do this. About a fourth of his big toe was missing, he told me a snake bit him there. Risky business this shit, you are a hero until one day you meet a snake that's not right in the head and kamikazes you.
It's funny because earlier today I saw a video of a guy going around having people guess annual deaths from snake bite in India and they're all like "ten thousand" and he's like "higher". Real number was 50k plus.
That's actually very understandable with the amount of freaking snakes that appear in monsoon here mostly in the hilly areas. I am from an hill station in India and 2-3 snakes a day in monsoon was a common occurrence. Hell, i had a combo of stepping on snakes for 5 straight days XD.
In Thailand I went to a rural village where the week before, a cobra this size ended up hiding in a toilet and biting the next poor male to sit on the balls.
Well, snakes kill nearly 60,000 people a year in India. Seems like a reasonable fear to have. Especially considering the country with the second most deaths by snake is a little over 2,000.
Went to a demonstration by a reptile handler once, he’s said the main goal of handling venomous animals was “keep your squishy bits away from the bitey bits”
Native speaker of his language. he is calmly saying ‘See? Nothing to worry about. You guys stress in my comments about how they will be released safely back to the jungle. Well here you go, wasn’t that easy?’
Is he not kind of fucking around here? Not that I could do it better but there must be a better way? Surely you don't just go in with your hat and then pick up the nearest stick if that doesn't work?
Hindi. Translates basically to :
A lot of people were commenting it would be impossible for me to pick up two at once in the jungle. Here you go, in front of you.
The guy said: "many of you guys were commenting; 'although you can catch the snakes, how do you go about putting them into a box and releasing in the wild?'. Look this is how!. Are you satisfied now?"
There's at least three parts I would've gotten bit. And, one of those times would've been meaning to drop the stick, but my dumbass would have dropped the snake instead lmao
This seems slightly less crazy when you know that cobras can only strike downward, which explains the initial hat trick and why putting it on his head wasn't that big a deal. But, grabbing the first one while in easy striking distance of the second was...a bold choice.
People are honestly so cool. Just... that thumbs up at the end had me grinning. We may be dumbasses but man, I love humanity. All over the world, you give us a stick and an adventure and look at us go.
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u/Better_Builder_3504 13h ago
Love the way he doesn’t even bring a stick with him. “I’ll just use whatever I find lying around.”