A "phobia" is an irrational fear of something. Someone with a phobia will not only be afraid to confront their fear, but they may get extremely worked up just reading about it, seeing it on TV, or talking about it with someone else. Common phobias include achluophobia (fear of the dark), acrophobia (fear of heights), glossophobia (fear of speaking in public), necrophobia (fear of death or dead things), and coulrophobia (fear of clowns). The two phobias I'm talking about today, however, are arachnophobia and ophidiophobia - the fear of spiders and the fear of snakes, respectively.
While I do have some "fears", of a sort, such as a problem with meeting strangers and, when I was younger, a severe dislike and fear of earthworms, I do not have any true phobias. I count both spiders and snakes as two of my favorite animals - but the opinion isn't shared in my home. I seem to be the only member of my family who can stand snakes - which makes it all the more remarkable that I have one as a pet.
I'll be posting about my pet snake later. First, I've wanted to figure this question out for quite some time - why are so many people afraid of snakes and spiders? Why those two animals? Why not crocodiles or bears or sharks? Mosquitoes kill more people every year than any other animal by spreading disease, so why are they treated with annoyance rather than fear? There must be something in the human psyche that makes spiders and snakes stand out as especially fearsome, even when there are so many harmless members of either animal (especially spiders).
A study reported on in National Geographic back in 2001 claims that recognizing snakes and spiders as dangerous is ingrained in our minds from evolution. Primitive man, who lived in the wild far from today's comforts of enclosed, insulated homes, often had to be on alert for predators. Snakes, which tend to rely on stealth and can hide easily due to their shape, may have been a high priority target to memorize the appearance of. Spiders are harder to explain, thanks to the species that can truly threaten humans being fairly uncommon.
While I understand that some people can have phobias, I grow worried when I hear of prejudice against snakes and spiders just because they are snakes and spiders. A snake may be a far cry from a cat or dog, but it's very possible to own one and bond with it in some fashion. Millions of people are afraid of snakes and spiders, but there are also many folks out there who keep these feared animals as beloved pets. There are cases of people's pet snakes being killed by people who feared them. I've linked to one of the most memorable cases of anti-snake violence below. Even if you don't care for certain animals, you should never hurt or kill someone's pet just because it's a species you don't happen to like.
A list of the many, many phobias that have been coined over the years:
http://phobialist.com/
National Geographic's article on snake and spider fear:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/10/1004_snakefears.html
The sad story of Popcorn the ten-foot albino python:
http://local.cincinnati.com/share/news/story.aspx?sid=117013&cid=100004
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