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Danger in the Wild - rattlesnake evolution

Subject: Danger in the Wild - rattlesnake evolution
From: "Bernie Krause" bigchirp1
Date: Sat Jan 5, 2008 10:37 am ((PST))
Kevin's note reminds me that many of the Western Diamondbacks now
found in N. California
have evolved w/o rattles. That's because many farmers, grape-growers,
new rural residents have killed off those w/ rattles and the ones
that survive  no longer provide the requisite warning(s).

Bernie Krause


On Jan 4, 2008, at 11:46 AM, Kevin Colver wrote:

> One morning in the great basin desert I was sitting on the ground on
> a hillside at sunrise. After it got light enough I noticed I was
> sitting next to a diamondback rattlesnake who was out to catch the
> warming morning rays. Wanting to get a recording, I nudged him a
> little with my parabola. All I got was a single shake out of his
> chilled rattle. Further nudging only induced him to slither back
> down his hole. Lucky for me those early mornings are nice and cold.
> Kevin Colver
>
> On Jan 4, 2008, at 9:25 AM, Scott Connop wrote:
>
> > There are lots of mediocre encounters that anyone working in the
> > field would remember, but a couple stick out in my mind because
> > both of them were more frightening in retrospect. (I will send the
> > second story later).
> >
> > On my first night in Varirata in Papua New Guinea, I spent the
> > night cruising the roads listening for owls and owlet-nightjars. At
> > the side of the road I noticed a glistening reflection on the small
> > shoulder of one road that headed out to a lookout. Upon further
> > investigation, this turned out to be a rather large brown python
> > that I decided to measure. I found his head and upper body partway
> > down the embankment but while I was measuring him he kept trying to
> > turn his head on me and repeatedly banged it against a shrub right
> > beside it. At 15 feet, I thought this was a serious snake and I
> > felt a tiny pang of sympathy for the numerous wallabies that I had
> > seen that night. Exciting stuff, but obviously a situation I
> > controlled, and I wanted birds.
> >
> > After recording a Large-tailed Nightjar in the picnic area parking
> > lot an hour later, I was walking back to our car with my wife,
> > flashlight bouncing off my leg as I walked. I was only 20 feet from
> > my car when I caught a movement a meter in front of my feet. I put
> > my arm in front of my wife and stopped us. The flashlight revealed
> > a nasty looking little ( 8 inches) viper that simply had stopped in
> > our path as it was crossing the gravel parking lot. I had my
> > suspicions but it wasn't until several days later back in Port
> > Moresby that I positively identified it as a Death Adder. Our host
> > told us that, in 8 years of visiting Varirata, he had never seen
> > one but that he had not spent that much night time in the park. He
> > then went on to tell us a story about a local politician who had
> > been bitten by one while working in his garden at lunch time. By
> > the time he got to hospital for anti-venom, the staff person with a
> > key to the proper cupboard was on lunch and, by the time they were
> > able to administer, it was too late. The time span was about half
> > an hour. And we had been at least 60 minutes from the nearest
> > hospital at midnight. Flashlights are wonderful inventions.
> >
> > Scott Connop
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
>

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