{
  "id": 10920346,
  "title": "Snakes' appearances linked to how scary or appealing people find them",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/30/snakes-appearances-linked-to-how-scary-or-appealing-people-find-them",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-30T10:40:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Phys.org",
    "slug": "phys-org",
    "url": "https://phys.org/news/2026-09-snakes-linked-scary-appealing-people.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Snakes have the ability to evoke diverse human reactions, ranging from fear and disgust to awe and admiration. Both humans and nonhuman primates, such as monkeys and apes, demonstrate a swift ability to detect snakes in their environment. Researchers from the University of Aveiro and the University of Brasilia conducted a study to investigate the relationship between the physical attributes of snakes and human perceptions of them. Their findings, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, reveal that snakes with similar appearances tend to elicit comparable responses of fear, disgust, and positive impressions.\n\nThe research team was inspired by previous studies in their lab that focused on humans' and primates' rapid detection of evolutionarily relevant threats, particularly snakes. They aimed to determine what factors contribute to the perceived threat level of snakes once they are noticed. In a 2025 review paper, Sandra C. Soares and her colleagues examined existing evidence indicating that various snake physical characteristics can become more significant at different stages of perception. They also wanted to explore how individual experiences, ecological, and cultural contexts influence these perceptions.\n\nTo gather data, the researchers conducted an online study involving 377 participants from Brazil and Portugal, aged 18 to 74. The participants were shown photographs of various snake and non-snake species and were asked to rate the images based on fear, disgust, beauty, emotional valence, arousal, and perceived size. The photographs were sourced from the Reptiles of Ecuador project, which documents reptiles in Ecuador. To capture a diverse range of snake characteristics, the team included photographs of elongated, limbless creatures resembling snakes but not actually snakes.\n\nThe researchers did not influence participants' ratings by categorizing the images or making assumptions about which animals would be perceived as more frightening, disgusting, or attractive. Instead, they analyzed the ratings and grouped them based on common morphological characteristics. Three distinct groups emerged: one primarily associated with fear, another with positive impressions, and the third with disgust. The study found that specific snake morphological and visual cues play a crucial role in evaluating potential threats, even when people have no knowledge of a snake's actual danger. This visual threat heuristic allows the perceptual system to quickly assess potential danger based on an animal's appearance, potentially explaining why harmless snakes resembling more threatening species can still be perceived as highly threatening.",
  "summary": "Snakes can elicit a wide range of human responses, including fear, disgust, awe and admiration. Past studies suggest that both humans and nonhuman primates, such as monkeys and apes, tend to quickly notice snakes in their surroundings.",
  "key_points": [
    "Snakes evoke diverse human reactions from fear to admiration.",
    "Researchers from University of Aveiro and University of Brasilia studied snake perceptions.",
    "Specific morphological cues determine threat perception in snakes."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}