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Why do they have rattles?
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by Buckk on July 19, 2005
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I have noticed that many snakes vibrate their tails no matter if they are venomous or not. My question or questions are why did the rattlesnakes evolve to have rattles? If it were to warn large animals not to step on them then it would make sense to me. However,that would lead me to wonder about the other snakes living in the rattle snakes habitat (i.e.,wouldn't they like to have rattles to warn off large animals as well).What is the earliest fossil record of rattlesnakes and where were these fossils found. Any help would be appreciated.
p.s. I also have heard of a rattlesnake without rattles somewhere in the very southern part of California ( maybe it is on an island, can't remember).
later
mark
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RE: Why do they have rattles?
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by paleoherp on July 19, 2005
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Hi quite a few fossil rattle snakes have been described crotalus potterensis found in california is from the pleistocene . crotalus adamanteus pleistofloridensis and crotalus giganteus are also both found from the pleistocene . Apparently other snakes from the crotalidae such as neurodromicus are older going back to the oligocene . So the rattle snakes are a very recently evolved snake they have'nt had the rattles for long .
anyway hope this helps.
shaun
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RE: Why do they have rattles?
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by fizzbob7 on July 19, 2005
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my vote is for warning other animals/people to stay away..........they don't rattle at their prey, they do rattler when a big, dumb human stumbles upon them.....
has to be for their own personal safety, only thing that makes sense....
just like the catalina island rattler, it lost it's rattle (except for the button) so that it could hunt birds in complete silence......it's also a tree climber, so that snake is very UNLIKE other rattlers
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RE: Why do they have rattles?
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by Sal on July 19, 2005
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It is believed the rattlesnake evolved in the mountainous areas of Mexico. They probably evolved as a way to amplify the sound of rattling on the ground and gravel or to protect the tip of the tail from rattling against the same substrate. It is believed this is in defense of smaller animals like coatimundi, not the large bison as previously believed. It can also be a genetic mutation that kept the terminal scale and another one was added on to it during the next shed. This random mutation happened to have a benefit (louder rattling) which meant the ones with the mutation survived.
I can't remember off hand which viper it is, but there is one in South America that has a button like tip, but doesn't develop into a rattle. I think its a bushmaster, but I'm not sure.
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RE: Why do they have rattles?
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by sceniccityreptiles on July 23, 2005
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I, of course, do not believe in cross species evolution. I don’t think a fish turned into a rattlesnake at some point, but I do think changes occur within a snake population. Some are good, others are bad. Many North America snakes rattle the tail. At some point a snake had a genetic anomaly and retained shed on its tail and it hardened. It passed that on to its offspring and they interbred and over time it developed into the rattle we see today. It was an advantage at the time. It warned off larger animals, like man. So the snakes that developed it had an advantage. They lived and out breed the others. Now days, that rattle is getting them killed. They are better off without it. In time a deformed rattlesnake will be born without the rattle. He will live a silent life and pass on his genes. Not in our life time, but in the years to come, the rattle may disappear again.
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