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Water snakes may not be poisonous, but they are still bad news to an . An invasive species in California, the snakes may increasingly pose a threat to native and endangered species in the state, according to from the ºÙºÙÊÓƵ Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology.

The salamanders aren’t alone. Humans’ — and other primates’ — fear of snakes may be hard-wired. In 2006, ºÙºÙÊÓƵ anthropology professor Lynne Isbell that ancestral primates developed good close-up eyesight to avoid dangerous snakes, an idea into snake-sensitive neurons has since supported.