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When it comes to reptiles, there are a lot of old wives tales, a lot of myths like the coach whip snake can grab its own tail and wheel itself down the street or perhaps this one that we're going to concentrate on today about putting crocodilians in a trance. This is an American alligator and today we're going to find out is it a trance that they go into or is there another scientific reason for it? We're going to find out. This is okay, little buddy. He's going to help us out today. So, you may have seen this at some of the animal attractions you've been to if you went with your family down here to Florida,
some of the alligator farms and so on. You see them put the gator in a trance. Now, how can you put this pretty formidable little guy in a trance? Well, basically, I'm going to show you. It's not really a trance so much as it is a miscommunication between his inner ear and his brain. So, let's see if it works cuz it doesn't always work. But, we're going to put him upside down. We're going to just let him relax. All right, we've turned them upside down pretty quick. We're going to let him relax. Just chill out, little buddy. See, you'll see them
rub the tail or excuse me, rub the belly, but that has nothing to do with it. The animal is not being put in a trance. It's just that it's disorientated because it's been put upside down. So, what's happening is that his inner ear is no longer communicating to his brain or it hasn't caught up with it. So, watch this. We're going to take our hands off and he'll lay there immobilized. It's actually tonic immobility. Uh that's the term scientists use for it. Some animals will use this um they'll get into a trance-like state if they're trying to evade a predator. Well, this is being
induced because the little tiny hairs in his they're not real hairs, by the way, but they're little tiny filaments inside of his inner ear. Okay? And they'll pick up the equilibrium. They know how this animal is orientated. Most of the time they'll never be on their backs. So this is an unnatural position for him. It does not hurt it. So don't get worried. We're just doing this to show you. So he's basically immobilized in a quote translike state until he eventually will write himself. I mean because that'd be a pretty bad design to an animal if it somehow got flipped
upside down and couldn't write itself. But you see what essentially happened with that is eventually the brain and ears they catch up to each other and he realizes hey this is unnatural for me and he was able to ride himself because as we know the inner ear has a lot to do with our balance. Same thing with this crocodile and this American alligator right here. It's basically telling him what position he's in. So he realizes if I quickly put him upside down, if I put him upside down, there's definitely something that's gone wrong inside of his brain. So he knows that's wrong.
So look, he could just sit there. So what you can do is, you know, you rub the belly. They always do this and they say they're putting the animal to sleep, but that's not in fact what they're doing. That rubbing of the belly doesn't do anything. You could see he's just hanging out, but watch this. See that? The touch re-triggers everything and the little gator has got no problems. There you have it. A wives's tail dispelled. There's always a scientific reason for it and it's just a biological one and that is inner ear doesn't talk to the brain. Even that reptilian brain there. See you next time.
