Everyone knows that people can be influenced to some extent by hypnosis. Did you know that animals can also be immersed in a hypnotic trance? Yes, yes, and birds, and amphibians, and reptiles, and even insects! Let's take a short excursion into the history of the issue, and then let's talk about what this mysterious and not fully understood phenomenon is connected with.
SLEEPING CHICKEN
In 1646, the Roman Jesuit priest A. Kircher in his book "An Unusual Experience" told about how you can "bewitch" a chicken. In fact, he gave the first scientific description of a hypnotic session. Its essence was as follows, the Hypnotist, using the effect of surprise, transferred the bird from its usual position to an unnatural one, for example, lying on its back, with its paws up. Her head was pressed against the table, and a chalk line was drawn along the board from the beak.
To fix the chicken in this position, it was held by its head and legs for several minutes. At first, she fought back with her wings, but soon stopped the opposition and froze. The hypnotist carefully, without sudden movements, took his hands away from her - she lay calmly, with no signs of life. To wake the chicken, it was necessary to make a loud sound or slightly push it
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More than 200 years after Kircher's experiments, the famous Czech physiologist Cermak, having conducted a series of experiments with birds, proved that a hypnotic trance can be induced not only by turning on the back, but also by swinging the body from top to bottom, repeated putting on a hood (for birds), fixing with a gaze and etc. Yes, and the chalk line near the head is not particularly needed: without it, the effect of hypnosis is about the same.
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In Russia, in the middle of the 19th century, physiologists V. Ya. Danilevsky and IP Pavlov were engaged in hypnosis of animals. Their experiments on mammals, fish, birds, snakes, newts, crayfish and insects showed that living organisms can be immersed in hypnotic sleep for a sufficiently long period of time - up to several hours. IP Pavlov called this motor torpor a transitional state between wakefulness and full sleep.
It is significant that in animals, as in humans, under hypnosis, there is a significant decrease in the sensitivity of the skin and mucous membranes: they can be burned, cut, pricked, blown up by streams of tobacco smoke, raised by their paws - they will lie motionless, feeling nothing and without showing the slightest resistance. A symptom of waxy flexibility also appears: a chicken, for example, can turn its head 180 degrees, and it will keep this strange position for a while.
HOW TO ENTER INTO TRANS
Animal hypnotizing techniques are not difficult, but they require some practical skills. For example, to hypnotize a turkey, its head must be tucked under the wing and then rocked, as if to put it to sleep. The bird will shut down almost immediately.
There are two ways to hypnotize guinea pigs. Either grab the ear and lift it up, lightly stroking (at the same time, their reflexes weaken and the ability to perceive sounds and smells is lost), or slightly squeeze the nose with your fingers - this will immediately and for a long time cause numbness.
Cats are not so easy to hypnotic influence, but even obstinate patients have their own tamer. The cat is provoked to jump (for example, from the bedside table to the sofa), during the flight, they catch it by the scruff of the neck and turn it upside down with its paws. Surprise paralyzes the nervous system of the animal, and it is immobilized for about half a minute.
To hypnotize a frog, you need to turn it over on its back, put it on a hard surface, press its legs to the body and hold it in this position for a few seconds, then carefully move your hand. A sleeping frog can be given funny poses, for example, sitting on the edge of a table with crossed legs, performing various combinations with the front paws (pulling forward or upward, pressing to the chest) - the frog will maintain the given pose.
The phenomenon of hypnosis is observed in the natural environment. Deer, hares and other animals freeze in the headlights. The bird is paralyzed by the sight of a cat holding it between its paws. Mice, frogs and rabbits freeze, eyes wide open, at the sight of a snake crawling close (on the basis of this fact, many people attribute the ability to hypnotize snakes).
Kittens hang limply in the teeth of the mother, who carries them by the scruff of the neck. Many insects are immobilized at the slightest touch. All this is a hypnotic stupor caused by a shock stimulus.
HYPNOSIS OF DANGEROUS PREDATORS
Do you think strong and aggressive animals succumb to hypnosis? Did you find a daredevil who is ready to find out empirically? Have his attempts been crowned with success? Imagine yes!
The experience of hypnotizing predators was described in a book by the famous hypnologist Voltesi, published in 1969. It told about the numerous and interesting experiments that he (of course, with assistants) performed in the zoo on large animals: lions, bears, foxes, crocodiles, monkeys.
The scientist put a young lioness into a state of numbness by suddenly jumping on her back. By scratching the neck followed by a sharp throwing back of the head, he managed to cause a stupor in the chimpanzee: the suddenly weakened animal remained for a long time lying on the floor of the cage with its paws scattered to the sides and closed eyelids. Crocodile Voltesi hypnotized with an unexpected and decisive gesture - opening his mouth and then turning on his back.
Hungarian scientist F. Veldengy told about another method of "euthanasia" of crocodiles. He applied the same method of hypnosis to them as to the lizards, which, he was well aware, fell into a daze in response to restriction of freedom of movement. Having signed an agreement that the management of the zoo bears no responsibility for the consequences of his experiments, the daredevil entered the enclosure with a crocodile, grabbed him by the neck and squeezed him hard.
The reptile, to the surprise of the zoo attendants, immediately went limp and was immobile for many hours, not responding to the strongest external stimuli: thunder, heat of fire, needle pricks, coups on his back, and even kicks. As you can see, there is control even for the most terrible animals, the main thing is to skillfully get down to business! However, we do not advise anyone to repeat such experiments.
HYPNOTISER'S JOKES
Researchers of animal hypnosis often cite examples of amusing cases from their practice. Here is one of them. The boy, who knows the techniques of hypnotizing birds, once made fun of his aunt, with whom he was staying on vacation.
He caught the aunt's chickens, put them into a state of numbness and laid them out in the most unusual positions on the steps of her house. Then, in an innocent voice, asked the hostess if the chickens could eat some poison.
When the aunt ran out into the street and saw the lifeless carcasses of feathered pets, she herself almost fell into a trance … But what was her joy when her nephew, clapping his hands loudly, revived everyone: the chickens jumped to their feet with frightened clucking and rushed away. The boy laughed, the aunt shook her head, however, also smiling.
The hypnotic trance also occurs in marine life, such as the octopus. If it is turned upward with the mouth opening and held in this position, it will acquire a gray color, lose mobility, cease to stick and stop responding to chemical irritations. He - imagine - asleep!
WHY ANIMALS THIS REFLEX?
The state of hypnosis is a passive protective reaction of the body to a stimulus in a situation where physical resistance is meaningless. Simply put, this is a stupor into which the victim falls at the sight of a predator, from which it is impossible to escape by flight or in any other way. The victim's nervous system from overload goes into a state of transcendental inhibition, the centers responsible for movement are turned off in the brain, and the animal “dies” for a while.
The biological meaning of this phenomenon is simple: since moving objects attract the increased attention of the enemy, in a hopeless situation it is better for the victim not to move: perhaps this disorientates the predator, and he will not notice her or will mistake her for dead. In addition, protective hypnotic sleep will keep the animal's nervous system from complete exhaustion.
Thus, hypnosis is nothing more than an attempt by a living being in an extreme situation to increase its chances of survival. Needless to say: everything in nature is thought out and meaningful.
Yulia MALTSEVA