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Project Noah Nature School
Crotalus viridis viridis
Female Prairie Rattlesnake encountered post-basking near railroad tracks. She was in transit when I came upon her, and put on an excellent show!
Semi-arid grasslands, shrublands, plains, dry sandy soil, predominant vegetation: prairie grasses, banana yucca, juniper, sagebrush
Spotted on Jun 2, 2011
Submitted on Jun 11, 2011
17 Comments
Beautiful photos of a gorgeous snake!
Hi wrathraptor. welcome to Project Noah. I am always happy to find new herpers on here. This is a fantastic spotting.
Please be sure to add this to the Snakes of the United States – CSC mission to help with their citizen science project!
http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/1202...
stunning!
WOW! Crazy awesome spot! #1 makes it look like it has 4 eyes.
Beautiful!
Love the pose! Amazing you captured it!
Oh wow!!
A-MAZING shots!
a dream shot!!!!!
Wrathraptor - I think a good Nikkor zoom would be cheaper and more survivable than a snake bite from a snake who got jumpy. :-P
I think both are deadly. Who gets their bite is half dead due to fear...and shock..!!
@ Weirdoz: In most cases, the cobra is deadlier. But it really depends on the rattlesnake. There is one species that can drop a grown man in less than 15-20 minutes!
@ Ashish: Actually, it is more of a defensive pose, just letting me know that she means business if I get too close.
@ Heather: I get really close to these snakes. I only have a fixed lens on my Nikon L100. I've been doing research on the venom of these snakes for a little more than a year now. So, I've learned where the "safe zone" ends. :D
which more poisonous, a rattle snake or a cobra?
Its looks alike in attacking pose..!!
I hope you had a long zoom on that camera at the time!