This seems like a situation where being untrue in just one case makes the fact totally useless.
Comment on snek id
remotelove@lemmy.ca 8 months agoIt kind of is, but it depends on the continent from what I have found. After looking around a bit, it seems that this wouldn’t apply in Africa or other places. It’s probably partially true, but I couldn’t find out exactly what the conditions were.
But…
I am not snake expert, nor am I even snake smart. However, it seems that the best course of action is not to fuck around and find out.
jettrscga@lemmy.world 8 months ago
remotelove@lemmy.ca 8 months ago
Yes? In another comment here, I posted a link from a government site that seemed to have a legitimate review. (That doesn’t mean it’s fact, of course.)
I am all about getting to the bottom of myths, actually.
Communist@lemmy.ml 8 months ago
It’s not even an indicator, there’s places where the opposite is true, this is like the myth of the vertical slit pupils meaning they’re venomous, there’s no actual correlation, this just coincidentally works in areas with few snake species, but you’d have to know that ahead of time so this is practically completely useless.
remotelove@lemmy.ca 8 months ago
This doesn’t look local, and it seems reviewed: medlineplus.gov/ency/presentations/100138_3.htm
I legitimately want to understand how this information is propagating and why. Your explanation seems correct, but given the above link, there may be more to this problem.
Communist@lemmy.ml 8 months ago
I can’t see the paper on that page, just the image, is there more to it than just the image and the claim?
What snakes have they checked?
remotelove@lemmy.ca 8 months ago
There isn’t much more than the pictures, title and review date/information.
I mentioned in another comment that I am just going to write the reviewer of that page and see what the specifics are and get proper context.
It’s not about who is right or wrong now. (You seem to know a lot more about snakes or you are a better rapid-researcher than I, at least.) If I can track this down and get a better review of stuff that is posted as a “government reference”, more people could benefit from that.
In the past, I have had great success in reaching out to subject experts in different fields, so this should be kinda easy. I am also not shy, so that helps.
Side note: If you want to have an argument about chameleons, I am absolutely the person to have one with. ;)
DrRatso@lemmy.ml 8 months ago
Its the previous thing of it, potentially, being true somewhere and then also just it sounds like it could be true. TikTok is full of stuff like this, that sounds true enough and is presented from somewhat of an authority angle, with confidence. Too often I get someone to send me a tiktok of some medical fact like: “is this true?”. And 9/10 it is not.
Flatworm7591@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
It holds true enough for North America, but not in other parts of the world, e.g. Africa. So yes, it should have a disclaimer.
Source: africansnakebiteinstitute.com/…/harmless-vs-venom…
remotelove@lemmy.ca 8 months ago
Thankfully, I avoid short-form videos like the plague.
The link I shared was from a government site but with limited information attached. It also appeared to be reviewed on a regular basis.
Hell, I am just going to write the creators of that page and get some verification.