Trivia question for Nov-22-2011

Carter picked this snake because of one of the initiatives he and his sister are still working on.  Since starting OMG, these guys have been trying to get the two remaining communities in GA that still host Rattlesnake Roundups, to change their events to an Animal Festival where the species is celebrated, not round-up and slaughtered.  So far our young founders have collected over 1,200 signatures from various communities showing their support for what we are doing.  We will keep you posted.

These snakes live in the ‘badlands’ and semi-desert areas of North America, where its tough skin prevents it from losing too much moisture.  They adjust their behavior daily to regulate body heat, alternating basking in the sun and shade.

Life expectancy is more than 20 years, but is typically shorter because of hunting and human expansion. Solitary outside of mating season, they are one of the more aggressive snake species found in North America because they rarely back away from confrontation. When threatened they usually coil and rattle to warn aggressors. There is suspicion that rattlesnakes living around human population centers do not rattle as often because it leads to the snake’s discovery and consequent destruction. However, there is little available evidence of this hypothesis

So here are Carter’s questions:  Tell us what kind of snake this is and how they are able to conserve water?  Also, tell us why these snakes shake their rattle as a warning instead of hissing or spitting like most other snakes?  As a bonus, tell us which is quicker, the strike of one of these snakes or the punch speed of a professional boxer?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Carter is really surprised that no one got all the answers to his trivia correct this time.  The snake we featured is the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake.  Crotalus atrox, the “western diamondback rattlesnake”, is a venomous rattlesnake species found in the United States and Mexico.  These snakes conserve water by holding the moisture they get from their prey within their body for long periods and then only excreting the remaining waste which is more like a thick pasty urine.  It is also believed that their same sense of water conservation is what lead these snakes to develop a rattle as their warning system because spitting and hissing uses up valuable fluids.

Although snakes are feared for their striking speed, the diamondback attacks at a s peed of about 8-feet per second.  This is much slower than a trained fighter can punch out his fist.  Here is more on these creatively adaptable snakes: Western Diamondback Rattlesnake

Thanks for playing along 😉