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Project Noah Nature School
Crotalus oreganus helleri
Juvenile snake about 60cm long with black and gray pattern and orange rattle on the end of the tail. Adults have a darker rattle. "The rattle is composed of a series of hollow, interlocked segments made of keratin, which are created by modifying the scales that cover the tip of the tail." - Wikipedia The adult can be seen at my other spotting: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/164...
Under Western Sumac at Blue Sky Ecological Reserve. This subspecies has a range of Southern California and northern Baja, Mexico.
"Most species of rattlesnakes have hemotoxic venom, destroying tissue, causing necrosis and coagulopathy (disrupted blood clotting). Rattlesnake bites are the leading cause of snakebite injuries in North America, and cause approximately 82% of fatalities. rattlesnakes have two organs that can sense radiation: their eyes, and a set of heat-sensing "pits" on their face that enable them to locate prey and strike towards it, based on the prey's thermal radiation signature." When threatened, they contract special "shaker" muscles in the tail causing the chamber segments to vibrate against one another, making the rattling noise (which is amplified because the segments are hollow). - Wikipedia This is why I'm submitting it to NWF for Wildlife with Innovative Defenses, Record Breakers, and Wildlife with Super Senses.
Spotted on Oct 17, 2011
Submitted on Oct 17, 2011
8 Comments
Thank you marylou, Carol and Karen! I hope to see another one this week for Snake Week!
Lovely series!
WOW! Cindy, I think I would be running!
Congrats on this spotting! Very beautiful snake, and great photos to share the beauty with all of us here at Project Noah! Thanks :)
Thanks KarenP! They're not the easiest to photograph since I wanted to keep a distance and it was hiding under a dark bush. I was just as excited as the Boy Scouts!
Wow! You got some good photos. Excellent!
I hiked with my son in a boy scout adventure and they were chatting away. The field guide yelled stop as this young rattler slithered right behind them. My first rattlesnake sighting!
Cool!