Snake Peeks: Lovers, Fighters, Drinking, Hunting

  

New videos in our YouTube series Snake Peeks

Even where snakes are common, they can be difficult to observe because they are shy and easily disturbed. Through good fortune and patience we’ve been able to record brief moments in the lives of wild snakes. These portraits of behavior may oppose what many (most?) people imagine snakes do.

Please enjoy and share widely – help us show the world the true nature of snakes!
  

Or rather, hail. Porter, a female black-tailed rattlesnake, takes advantage of summer rain to get a drink, before getting caught in a storm. See more drinking snakes here.
  

A Western patch-nosed snake uses his enlarged rostral scale to dig out loose dirt from a rodent burrow. This method also works for hunting lizards.
  

Some snakey love, just in time for Valentine’s Day. Double R (male blacktail rattlesnake) spent a couple weeks courting Porter in summer 2013.
  

Two male western diamond-backed rattlesnakes square off in ritualized combat to settle a dispute over rights to court a female (unseen). Like a thumb wrestling contest, the goal is to remain on top and it is thought that larger snakes have the advantage. For more on rattlesnake combat and courtship, read this.

Music: Mannequins by Tab & Anitek.
  

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