South Dakota is home to only one venomous snake—the Prairie Rattlesnake. They can be spotted in every county in the state west of the Missouri River, and in a spot or two along the river in the east. A growing number of these snakes appear to have lost their ability to rattle, and that concerns some scientists who think the abnormality may lead to that very obvious warning of danger eventually going away.
On a nice day during her senior year of high school, Bonny Fleming decided to take a walk in the Black Hills.
“I had left school for lunch, and I was all by myself, and I went to a remote place that I like to go in the Black Hills. And I had traveled up a trail, and there was a rock outcropping, and I went to sit on that rock, but I just kinda hopped over it,” Fleming says. “And there was a rattlesnake right under my legs. And it rattled, and I was able to spook it, and it just went back into its little hole.”
It was Fleming’s first encounter with a rattlesnake, which left her alone once it fired its warning rattle.
The sound made by Crotalus Viridis¸ or the prairie rattlesnake, is one of the most chilling sounds heard in nature. There’s a specific purpose to the rattle: to keep larger animals and humans away. But Terry Phillipp, naturalist at Reptile Gardens in Rapid City, says that signal usually means the snake’s demise.
“Every rattlesnake that gets discovered generally gets killed. And the snakes that are discovered generally have a really strong muscle next to their rattles, so that they actually function the way they’re supposed to,” Phillipp says. “So people will be out walking or gardening or whatever, and the rattlesnake gets to rattling—well, it gets the end of the shovel or the .22 pistol or whatever.”
Over the past couple of years, Phillipp has noticed many rattlesnakes with what he calls “curly-Q” tails. Imagine the tail on a pig, and you’ll get the idea. Phillipp says the tail muscles on these snakes have atrophied, and accordingly, can’t move the rattle. Rattlesnakes can camouflage themselves well, and, if they’re not heard, they’re likely not killed.
“And so the snakes that have that genetic defect—it is a genetic defect—those are the ones that are surviving,” Phillipp says. “They then reproduce, and they pass along that genetic defect to their offspring.”
Phillip’s theory is that if the rattlesnakes that announce themselves are spotted and killed, those with the defective tails are breeding and creating more snakes that can’t rattle.
Bonny Fleming, the hiker who encountered a prairie rattlesnake in high school, says she understands what a dangerous situation that could be for those exploring the Black Hills.
“I think that’s terrifying,” Fleming says. “Every encounter I’ve had, I’ve been able to avoid them because of that warning. So it’s really helpful, and I think it’s helpful for them, too, because it keeps the people that are scared of them away.”
Like all snakes, rattlesnakes only bite humans as a last resort; they’d rather not waste venom on something that’s too big to eat. Todd Magnuson, who co-hosts the cable TV outdoor show “Nature Adventures,” says the snakes have other ways to avoid detection before resorting to a strike. Continue Reading…..
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