This is one of the most menacing noises in the animal kingdom.
It means, "back off, these fangs are made for killing."
These vipers cause more deaths in America than any other snake.
Learn to respect them before it's too late.
These are the rattlesnakes.
Hi, I'm Danielle Dufault and you're watching Animalogic.
Rattlesnakes are legends of the American Southwest,
but they can be found all over the Americas, including up here, in frosty Canada.
There are over 50 species of rattlesnake, the majority of them in the genus crotalus,
and only two in the genus sistrurus, also known as the pygmy rattlesnakes.
Both genera are within the viper family, so rattlesnakes have all the classic viper features,
including one of the most sophisticated injection systems in the world.
It's a complex system.
When their mouth is closed, their fangs fold back towards the roof of their mouth.
This allows them to grow larger than if they were set in place.
Their fangs are hollow and are connected to venom reservoirs at the back of their head.
When they bite down, the muscles in their jaw push the venom out of their glands and into their prey.
This system requires a muscular head and large venom glands,
which is why they have big menacing-looking triangular heads.
And that's not all!
Besides having the vipers' venom-depositing technology, they have another ace up their jaw.
Rattlesnakes are in the pit viper subfamily, meaning they have a pit
organ above their mouths that they use to sense heat, like a natural infrared camera.
The closest rattlesnake to me is the Eastern Massasauga,
so we went to a local reptile expert to see it for ourselves.
I'm at Scales Nature Park in Orillia, Ontario
and I have the extreme pleasure of getting to meet a Massasauga rattlesnake.
These guys are Ontario's only venomous snake, and despite the reputation of being
a dangerous snake with venom, they really don't pose much of a threat whatsoever,
only as much threat as you choose to impose upon them, as most things go in nature.
She's being handled by a professional.
If you see one in the wild, please leave it alone.
I need to keep an eye on it because I need to keep myself at least a metre away from it at all times.
You don't want to let them get too close.
Also for social distancing, like, I don't want to pass any germs onto this poor sweet snake.
So the Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake actually has four populations here in Ontario.
Unfortunately, two of those are endangered and two of them are threatened.
Most of this is due to habitat loss, as usual, but also because of roadside kills.
Some people also kill them on site due to fear, misunderstanding, and ignorance.
This is incredibly sad because all they want to do is eat rodents and nap.
They have no interest in you.
So what differentiates the Eastern
Massasauga rattlesnake from the Western Massasauga rattlesnake?
It's the fact that they have this beautiful dark black belly,
whereas the western species has a brighter, lighter colour.
This black-bellied subspecies is found here in Southern Ontario,
as well as in the American Midwest, from Minnesota to Western New York.
The Western Massasauga lives in the plains of the U.S between the Rockies and the Mississippi .
And the desert Massasauga lives in the deserts of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico.
The other snake in their genus, the pygmy rattlesnake,
lives in the American Southeast, from Texas to the Carolinas.
Because of their eye colouration, these snakes always look super suspicious.
The members of the genus sistrurus differ from the rest of the rattlesnakes in that they're smaller,
their scales on their head are larger,
and their rattler is much smaller and makes more of a buzzing sound.
Of course, the rattler is one of the coolest things about these snakes.
It's what makes them unique.
The rattle is made of interlocking segments made of keratin, the same material as your nails.
Every time the snake sheds its skin it adds an extra segment to the rattle.
These segments are loosely connected to each other, so when the snake shakes its tail,
they bang against each other, creating a warning noise.
Unfortunately, we can't use the rattle to tell the age of the snake because rattles break easily.
Snakes travel with their rattle in the air,
but despite this they often break due to usage and from getting knocked against rocks.
But the rattle doesn't need to be huge to work.
Rattlesnakes can shake it up to 50 times a second,
as fast as a hummingbird's wings, and sustain that speed for up to three hours.
It's one of the longest sustained fast motions among vertebrates.
The noise is a clear warning to potential predators to stay away.
Otherwise, they risk getting bit.
Speaking of getting bit, rattlesnakes kill more people than any other snake in the United States.
They will give you fair warning if they get the chance,
but they're more than willing to defend themselves if they have to.
Of the 21 venomous snakes in the U.S, 16 are rattlesnakes.
The species involved in the most human fatalities is the eastern diamondback rattlesnake,
which is found in the southeast, from Louisiana to the Carolinas.
With some individuals surpassing the two metre mark
and weighing up to 15 kilograms, this is the largest rattlesnake in the world.
It also has the largest fangs and can deposit a large venom load, of up to a thousand milligrams.
This is not a snake you want to mess with.
Oh, and they can swim too.
Luckily, it doesn't want to mess with you either,
and it would rather save up its venom to catch prey than to protect itself from hikers.
Their cousins, the western diamondbacks,
are also lethal, having claimed several lives in Northern Mexico.
Their venom, like other rattlesnakes, is hemotoxic.
It destroys the tissues of the circulatory system,
eventually causing it to stop delivering oxygen to the brain and other vital organs.
Other symptoms include internal hemorrhage, muscle damage, and necrosis.
If untreated, it can turn blood into jelly.
It's pretty awful.
But it's not all scary.
Rattlesnakes play an important role in their ecosystem.
They control rodent populations and in some areas even get rid of Lyme-disease carrying ticks.
Luckily for them, they're immune to their own venom, as fights during mating are common.
Also, whenever they eat their prey they have to swallow back the venom they injected,
so being immune to it is a must.
Some species, such as the tiger and the mojave rattlesnakes have neurotoxic venom as well,
which causes paralysis.
Rattlesnakes are ambush predators, so they wait for their prey to be in range and then they bite.
Most rattlesnakes colouration and pattern help them blend in with their environment.
Their pit organs detect sources of heat, their tongues trap scents from the air,
and their forward-facing eyes calculate the right striking distance.
It doesn't matter where you are, a rattlesnake knows you're there.
When it's close enough the snake strikes, covering 15 centimetres,
the average striking distance, in just about 70 milliseconds.
The prey dies within minutes and is then consumed head first.
The snake will then find a warm place to digest its meal.
Aww, poor rat.
But rattlesnake's gotta eat!
So what should we talk about next?
Please let me know in the comments and be sure to subscribe for new episodes every week.
Thanks for watching, see ya.
Hey listen, if I had a rattle on my butt I'd be shaking it too.
Stupid, sexy rattlesnakes.