Baby vs. cobra

So I was just checking my hotmail account this morning and minding my own business when I saw this headline on MSN that caught my eye. "Baby kämpft gegen Kobra". Apparently there is a video on youtube showing a baby being placed on its stomach on the ground in front of a cobra, which throughout the video, tries to bite the baby on the head. The article said the video was taken in the Andrah Pradesh province of India.

I'm not sure what else to say about it other than find the whole idea extremely disturbing...

I haven't looked for the direct youtube link or if it's even still on youtube, but this is a picture taken from youtube.

Here ya go, very, very weird

The snake doesn't appear to open it's mouth to strike though, more headbutts the baby than anything. Defanged snake maybe?

looks like cobra's teeth are removed so i assume it is completely harmless (in any case how did the parents agree to do this is another question) and there is really not a fight at all. at least the baby is not fighting, just trying to discover.

I can't bring myself to watch the video. WTF is wrong with some people? Tossing babies out to venomous snakes...

Edit: Ah, sorry- after re-reading the article it said that they had broken the cobra's teeth out and the mouth had been sewn shut. This is something that apparently happens often in this particular region. They said that in previous "fights" between the babies and the snakes, the stiches have come undone and the babies have been killed from snake bites.

Oh, and here's the link to the MSN article. In German.

Here ya go, this version of it says that the cobra's mouth was sewn shut, no danger whatsoever.

Edit: Oops now FA's edit makes my response look like brain dead syndrome

... I still don't understand the whole idea of this. Even if the snake's mouth is sewn shut. Is there a particular reason behind it?

It's a bit like putting a bloke in a relationship with a woman and seeing how long the poor guy will last before he's struck by the venom

Only in this case it would be like putting a teenage boy in with a mature woman but gagging her so that she couldn't strike with her tongue.

In some cultures they stick a baby in a basket and then the basket travels over 20 kph along side large cars and trucks. Let's remove danger from everything...people could get hurt.

cultural differences.

as i remember there's an (african?) tribe that ties vines to their feet and goes "bungee jumping".

and there's china with its 15% more male births... one couple one child, everyone wants a boy. some people sadly do a lot to ensure that it's a boy.

and look at the ancient aztecs...

I don't see how sticking your baby in front of a snake is quite the same as putting your kid in a bike seat.

Edit: Perhaps it is a cultural difference- which is why I asked earlier if there's actually a reason that they do this or if it's just for fun.

Any news on the snake?

I saw a news thing on the tv awhile ago, where in some cultures they do things like this for the kids to get used to being around snakes. There was a family in Thailand that had a house full of kids and snakes, and they used to sleep together in cribs. Grossed me out, I hate snakes, but, if you live around snakes and severly poisonous, I guess you gotta get used to them somehow.

it"s probably the difference between perceived risks and actual risks. Snake is perceived as more dangerous, but the bike seat is actually more dangerous.

Snakes have divine status in Hinduism. Christians like to drown babies in blessed water.

It says that it is believed to make the child a greater snake charmer. I f you watch the video to the end, even though the mouth is sewn shut, the snake looks like it start to constrict the kid.

But, I do love the way the kid just grabs at it, not a care in the world.

uh, a bike seat is more dangerous than a cobra?

No, they didn't. They said that it could happen, not that it had.

Translation please aessa? Since it apparently hasn't happened...

Who the fuck sews an animals mouth shut. Bastards.
The video is fucked no matter which way you look at it.

A+++ WOULD BUY AGAIN.

You should see what the women in Bangkok do with snakes.