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Creating a silent rattlesnake?
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by natrix on December 31, 2006
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Is the culling of "noisy" rattlesnakes creating an animal less likely to rattle? Sounds like urban legend to me, but the notion has become so pernicious I'd like to see proof one way or the other. Any studies out there?
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RE: Creating a silent rattlesnake?
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by Cro on December 31, 2006
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Natrix, there is a population of rattle-less rattlesnakes that live on Santa Catalina Island off the coast of California.
These Crotalus catalinensis are isolated on this island and their prey is birds. Birds have good hearing. These rattlesnakes do not have rattles, and it is speculated that this resulted from natural selection of the quiet rattlesnakes being better predators on birds.
Take a look at this web site:
http://www.sdnhm.org/fieldguide/herps/crot-cat.html
It would seem that in a closed system over many generations, that selection for a silent rattlesnake can happen. It would be almost impossible though in a wild, non contained population to remove enough of the loud rattlesnakes to change the population to a silent rattlesnake.
Hope this helps. Best Regards JohnZ
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RE: Creating a silent rattlesnake?
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by GREGLONGHURST on December 31, 2006
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I do not have anything to back it up in the way of studies, but I can tell you this: A rattlesnake that rattles in the presence of man is more often than not killed. A rattlesnake that does not rattle in the presence of man has a better chance to live & pass on those "quiet genes".
~~Greg~~
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RE: Creating a silent rattlesnake?
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by MikeB on January 3, 2007
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As I understand it (and it makes sense) the rattle evolved as a defense menchanism in an environment where large herds of hoofed animals (buffalo, etc.) shared land with the snakes. The rattle says "don't step on me!" Which of course make it a useful adaption for longevity and reproduction, selecting for larger and noisier rattles. The reverse is true of the island species, where the rattle had no survival advantage and some disadvantage for stalking birds. Since loud rattlers are often caught or killed today, by virtue of being more easily detected, I would imagine that the evolutionaty pressure is now against rattling in most habitats (the buffalo herds are gone.) Though given the pace of Darwinian selection, we won't be around to see the rattle-less rattlers that may emerge as standard in a few hundre thousand years.
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RE: Creating a silent rattlesnake?
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by YoungHerp1 on January 3, 2007
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I read that artical that JohnZ put on the post. I thought i was very interesting. Man evelution is a sweet thing. I was watching this show on animal planet a few days ago (the 4th time i watched it lol) "Search of the Lost Viper" i beleive it was called. But they were searching for new speicies in malaysia. MY memories vage right now. But they were looking for a new species of pit viper. They found it 2 other times thats it. But the 3 islands they were searching, they found the same species of skinks but differnat color patterns. New species of frog.But ill try to find out what exactly the show as called and tell you more about it guys.
MIke
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