Horny sea snakes are attacking divers because of this one trait

Most species are venomous but not aggressive.

The Olive sea snake, however, is known to go after humans, unprovoked.

However, it hasn’t been clear why these snakes go out of their way to attack humans.

A report published August 19 in Scientific Reports finally gives us some answers.

All of these attacks happened between May and August — during mating season. Most of the snakes who approached divers were males, though sometimes female snakes did it too.

The data suggests this was no coincidence. Run-ins with male snakes always happened:

1. After they interacted with a rival male, or...

2. They were unsuccessful in chasing after a potential female mate.

For females, each encounter with a diver occurred after males lost sight of them in a mating chase.

“In Sea Snake Vision, One Plus One Makes Three,” declares the title of a 2020 report in Current Biology. The report details the snakes’ bad job at distinguishing colors.

Luckily for divers, scientists say there’s a way to curb most snake attacks if they start getting aggressive:

Just stay still. The legless reptiles will realize that they’re confused, and eventually swim away.