FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — Dozens of spiders slither and slither around one another, and now anyone can watch them online at any time, even at night, via webcam.
For many, the “mega burrow” of 2,000 rattlesnakes isn’t the best viewing experience in town, but for scientists and snake lovers, it’s a treasure trove of observations that can help deepen our understanding of this rare (and unfairly maligned) reptile.
The secluded spot on private land in northern Colorado is nestled in a hillside full of crevices where the snakes can stay warm and hide from predators.
“This is a very large den for a rattlesnake. It’s one of the largest dens that we know of,” Emily Taylor, a biology professor at California State Polytechnic University who is leading the Project Rattlesnake research, said Tuesday.
Caltech researchers installed the webcams in May, building on knowledge gained from earlier webcams they had placed in rattlesnake dens in California. The exact locations in Colorado are being kept secret to discourage snake lovers, or haters, from messing with the snakes, Taylor said.
High-elevation Colorado rattlesnakes retreat to dens during the winter and emerge in the spring, but their active season is shorter than that of Southwestern rattlesnakes. Only pregnant female snakes remain in the dens at this time, while males and non-pregnant females migrate to nearby lowlands.
The babies are born in August: they are called pups, and unlike most other reptiles, they are born live rather than hatching from eggs.
Also, unlike other snakes, mother rattlesnakes care for their young, protecting them from predators and using their bodies to shield them. Rattlesnakes will also sometimes care for the young of other snakes.
“Rattlesnakes are actually very good mothers. People don’t know that,” Taylor said.
The webcams help scientists observe the snakes’ behavior without being intrusive, while people watching online can flag up events the scientists miss or hint at their own knowledge of the local environment.
“This is truly a group effort, a community science effort, and it’s something we as scientists cannot do alone,” Taylor said.
Sometimes drama happens.
Red-tailed hawks circled overhead, waiting for the chance to swoop down and grab a prey, and at one point a black, white and blue, long-tailed magpie, a relative of crows, snatched a baby rattlesnake.
When it rains, rattlesnakes curl up and drink water from a cup formed on their body.
Taylor expects a surge in activity after the baby snakes are born, and even more in September as snakes return from surrounding areas to prepare for winter.
Rattlesnakes have a bad reputation as creepy and scary, but Taylor said the webcams show they are social animals that don’t go out of their way to be aggressive.
“I try to speak up for the underdog and let people know there’s another side to rattlesnakes that’s worthy of admiration,” Taylor said.
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LaFleur reported from Dallas.
