IS IT BOLLOCKS?

Film Buff investigates the facts behind outlandish movie plots.

Does being trapped in Kevin Hart’s body make you an expert de-fanger?

Q In Jumanji, Kevin Hart’s animal expert showcases a way to de-fang a black mamba snake by pulling back its head and snapping off its incisors. Truth or hissing in the wind?

A

STEVEN ALLAIN,

BRITISH HERPETOLOGICAL SOCIETY @BRITISHHERPSOC

The black mamba is considered Africa’s deadliest snake, and a bite is certainly lethal if not treated. Not all bites will lead to people becoming envenomated, some are known as ‘dry bites’ where no venom is injected. It’s quite easy and standard practice to restrain venomous snakes in the way depicted in the film, even if the snake shown is larger than black mambas are in real life. But snakes do not have a ‘blind spot’ as depicted – pulling its mouth back like that just puts you one wrong move away from their fangs and is likely to cause the snake some pain.

You can defang a snake, but it requires a surgical procedure, snapping them as shown is not possible. Fangs are often rooted deep in bone so that prey can’t escape the grasp of the snake. In most cases where a snake has been ‘defanged’, the venom duct has been severed or the venom gland has been removed completely. Whether this is ethical or not is another question. Snakes continuously regrow their fangs throughout their life and shed the old ones when they become worn or broken (every couple of months), so if you were to remove them, they would grow back.

To avoid being bitten by a black mamba, respect the snake’s boundaries and give them space; they’re likely more terrified of you than you are of them. The behaviour shown in Jumanji was more defensive than aggressive, and in these circumstances it’s best to just back away slowly.