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Project Noah Nature School
Masticophis flagellum testaceus
This guy was pushing 5 ft, and was a weird combination of tan, red, and greenish all over. Coachwhips are an incredibly variable species, but this guy was just weird looking. An easy way to ID them is by the braided look of the tail.
When I first saw him, he was stretched across the trail I was hiking in Palo Duro Canyon State Park. As soon as we saw each other, he took off and climbed up this tree and it was too thick for me to get in there after him.
Spotted on Aug 25, 2013
Submitted on Aug 26, 2013
5 Comments
wow ,this is truly fascinating!
Lovely, Ashley! What an interesting defensive adaptation as well!
Thanks Jemma! Any snake can climb a tree if the tree is angled enough for them to be able to grip, but snakes like Rat Snakes can climb completely vertical trees, it's quite impressive. Just the same that any snake can swim, but obviously water snakes are much better at it :)
A question, Do rattle snakes etc climb trees?
amazing!