Individual discrimination of human handlers by Eastern garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis)

TL;DRAbstract

The ability to discriminate between individual humans has been shown in a variety of animals, which has both theoretical and practical implications. Hissing roaches habituated to handlers and hissed if handled by another person. When the original handler resumed contact, the hissing stopped, suggesting that discrimination between humans by an insect is possible. To our knowledge, no comparable experiments have been conducted with reptiles. Garter snakes show reliable habituation to both predatory and prey-related stimuli; thus, a habituation design is well suited for studying handler discrimination in snakes. Tongue flicks are a reliable gauge of a snake’s “interest” in its environment. We tested three hypotheses: 1) snakes would show a decrease in tongue flicks over time with their primary handler, 2) with the switch to a secondary handler, the snakes would have an increase in tongue flicks, and 3) there will then be a decrease in the number of tongue flicks when snakes are returned t

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