Leno, scientist agree: Snakes are smart

Holtzman, with friend

A College scientist's research with snakes has gained the attention of an international journal ... and Jay Leno.

Neuroscientist David Holtzman has found that snakes have a much greater capacity for learning than earlier studies had indicated. His research also shows that, like humans, many snakes rely on sight to get around, and that older and younger snakes differ in how they gather and decipher information about the world around them.

When Jay Leno got wind of this, it was too good for him to resist. The host of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno worked the findings into his monologue on the February 5 show: "Scientists at the University of Rochester say they have proven that snakes have the ability to learn. I think we all knew that. That's why we have law schools, pretty much."

While this did gain Holtzman's research national attention, it was undoubtedly its publication in the January issue of Animal Behaviour that he really takes pride in.

The crux of Holtzman's study was this: Twenty-four captive-bred corn snakes were challenged to escape from a black plastic tub the size of a child's wading pool. Cards mounted on the arena's walls and tape on its floor provided the snakes with visual and tactile cues to find their goal: holes in the tub's bottom that offer a dark, cozy spot to hide.

"These snakes appear to have a very strong aversion to the bright lights and open spaces found in the arena. When a snake is first placed in the arena, it tends to circle around the edge, looking for a way out," said Holtzman, an assistant professor of brain and cognitive science. His team found that given a nudge in the right direction, snakes are readily taught to find the exits--and then recall how to use cues to find them in successive trials.

Simply stumbling into a hole isn't the only proof that the snakes are learning something, though. "Speed to find that goal is one of the measures which shows they're learning," Holtzman said. "On average, they take over 700 seconds to find the correct hole on the first day of training, and then go down to about 400 seconds by the fourth day of training. Some are actually very fast and find it in less than 30 seconds."

It's Holtzman's theory that what holds for snakes, lizards, and birds may also hold for their evolutionary descendants--humans. If he and his colleagues come to understand how to control the mechanisms that govern neurogenesis in other animals, it could offer new therapies for the treatment of people afflicted by brain damage--whether from accidents, strokes, or diseases like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. The work could also help to better pin down the as-yet fuzzy notion that babies who grow up in more stimulating environments develop more robust brains.