In Defense of Rattlesnakes

What is it about snakes?  Why is it that many otherwise rational and intelligent people harbor a deep-seated fear, or worse, a vitriolic distain for these animals?  Of course, there is the story in Genesis, about how a serpent caused man to fall from God’s grace, but fear of snakes is not limited to religious people.  It has been suggested that our early ancestors faced two formidable groups of predators when they first left the trees in Africa- big cats and large pythons.  It’s been hypothesized that our ability to see color, detail, and movement are all adaptations that allowed our ancestors to spot snakes at close range, and allowed them to survive and pass those traits on to us.  While early hominids that lacked those traits…………… well, they didn’t become our ancestors! 

The research on the development of snake phobia is pretty interesting.  Human infants, as it turns out, are not innately afraid of snakes.  They are however, quicker to detect and more interested in, snakes than in other animals.   There is something special about snakes, that part seems to be innate.  The fear itself though, appears to be cultural.  It’s when a child sees his or her parent react in fear towards a snake that the child learns the fear.  Somehow, while I was growing up, I got that innate “snakes are special” part, but I somehow missed the learned fear part.  Of all the groups of animals on Earth snakes are my favorites.  And of all the different groups of snakes on the planet, I am most fond of rattlesnakes.

All the fear and loathing that some people have for snakes, can be multiplied by a couple powers of ten for rattlesnakes.  Why?  Yes, they are venomous, and many species possess a venom virulent enough, and can inject it in large enough quantities, to cause serious injury, or even death, in humans.  But that is not at all the snakes’ goal.  Rattlesnake venom was evolved to subdue prey and to begin the process of digestion, not to harm people, (or any other large animal for that matter).  My experience with rattlesnakes is that they would rather do anything, (hold still and hope you don’t notice them, flee, rattle to warn you off, hide their head beneath their coils, etc.), than to waste venom biting you.  Biting is a worst-case scenario, “I do this, or I die”, last alternative for the snake. 

As evidence of the general good nature of rattlesnakes I present the photograph above of a large, male Western Diamond-back found out crawling in mid-August.  Maybe his size freed him from worrying about most predators or other males, but he was exceedingly calm as I approached him.  I laid down on the ground in front of him with my camera and macro lens and inch-wormed closer and closer, until when the front of the lens was less than a foot away from him, he made a few brief tongue flicks.  This let me know that I was about as close as he would tolerate, so I took a few frames, pushed myself backwards a bit on my belly, then got up and left him, exactly as I first found him. 

This sort of encounter with rattlesnakes has been the rule, not the exception, for the nearly five decades I’ve spent watching and photographing them.  I approach rattlesnakes in the same way I approach other wildlife, as non-threatening as I can possibly be, and the snakes return the favor.  No fearsome show of fangs, usually not even a rattle, maybe a tongue flick or two.  I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t even like to photograph them when they are acting defensively, coiled and rattling.  After all, they only do that when they feel threatened.  I’d rather take pictures that show rattlesnakes as I’ve come to know them, and as I hope others will come to know them too.

Ideas and Works in Progress

I think its interesting where ideas for pictures come from.  Whenever I go out to take pictures I have, filed away in the back of my mind, numerous ideas for pictures I want to take eventually.  Some of those ideas have been kicking around in my brain for years, just waiting for the right combination of events and conditions to occur.  The ideas come from numerous source- things I observe, conversations with other people, etc.  Most of the time the picture I ultimately take is not exactly what I had in mind.  Sometimes its better, but most of the time its not quite what I wanted and so I take what I learn from one shot, file that information away in my head, and try to improve on the next opportunity.

The picture above, of a female Desert Box Turtle in the rain, is a good example.  In an online discussion recently with a friend the topic of these turtles and the dependance of their activity on the summer monsoon rains came up.  Later, while driving on a desert road with another friend during a downpour we had the unfortunate experience of encountering a Desert Box Turtle that had just been hit by a car.  These two events combined in my mind produced an idea for taking a photo of a Desert Box Turtle that would illustrate the importance of the monsoon rains to the species.

The next time it rained I went out looking for Box Turtles.  I found this female on a sand road in the rain and stopped my truck fairly close to her.  I then crawled under my truck, (to protect the camera and lens from the rain), and shot.  I think the resulting picture is a work in progress, its not quite what I wanted.  I want the rain to be more prominent next time which will require a combination of harder rain, (though this was hard enough to soak my back as I was getting under the truck!), and perhaps back-lighting to emphasize the rain.  I shot at 1/125 sec, because the light was low and I didn't want too fast an ISO.  I like the blurred rain, but also think I'd like to experiment with sharper rain, assuming I can find a turtle out in hard rain while the sun is shinning.  That combination can happen, but not very often.  I'd also like if the turtle where out of its shell more, maybe even walking.  Finally, not to be sexist, but I would really prefer a male turtle, simply because their heads and forelimbs are more colorful than those of females.

Thats part of what keeps nature photography interesting though.  You're never finished.  There's always something new to shoot or to improve on!

getting old sucks!

The footprints in the picture above were made by my very own short, wide hobbit feet.  Nearly three weeks ago I was at White Sands National Monument on the night of the full moon.  The footprints were made as I was racing to the top of the tallest dune I could find in anticipation of the moon rising, just after sunset.  Towards the top of the dune I found the easiest place to walk was right along the crest, but the problem was that my left foot ended up on the leeward side of the dune and my right on the windward side.  The sand on the leeward side was considerably firmer than on the windward side, (remember this is right along the crest, might be completely different further down either slope).  The result of that was that with every step my right foot would sink in the sand and my whole body would kind of lurch to the right.  What was a minor annoyance that evening became down right painful the next morning, when I could barely stand or walk without feeling an extreme pain in my right hip.  After a visit to my primary care physician and then to an orthopedist the diagnosis came back as sciatica.  I've been resting and recuperating and haven't really been out seriously taking pictures ever since, (100 degree temperatures have had something to do with that also).  On the bright side though I'm starting to feel a lot better and I had time to make this website!  Still, getting old sucks!