(air whooshing)
- Snake right there, right there!
Look at this, rattlesnake.
It's the Sidewinder.
Yes!
Coming right for your cameras.
Look at that defense right there.
That is a strike pose.
(air whooshing)
(upbeat music)
There's no place in the world like the American Southwest.
And on this adventure,
we have been given permission to explore,
the land surrounding an abandoned goldmine.
Located just beyond the superstition mountains.
I'm not a superstitious person,
but you never want to push your luck
when traversing challenges of the desert.
Remember this little incident,
(air whooshing)
(woman screams)
every once in a while guys,
I miss a jump
and I just landed funny.
My foot slipped and I literally fell about 15 feet.
Messed up my elbow pretty good.
Back first hand to the rocks.
I'm okay, I know you're gonna all see that video on the go.
You can actually hear my mom screaming in the background.
That was probably the farthest drop I've ever survived.
Under the light of day,
navigating Arizona is a challenge, but not impossible.
And if you are careful when hiking,
it can be quite enjoyable.
Then the sun disappears,
and this dry dusty maze of scraggly plants
and towering cacti becomes a biological minefield,
that even seasoned adventurous like myself,
occasionally find booby trapped.
(air whooshing)
Mario checked this out.
Here we go!
This right here is known as a teddy bear cholla.
Not exactly the kind of teddy bear
that you wanna cuddle with.
Now, when it comes to biological landmines,
this is one of the most dangerous things
out here in the desert,
because you least expect running into one of these.
So watch this.
And they're also known as jumping cholla.
So, okay, here we go.
One,
two,
three.
(grunts)
See that!
You brush up against one of these Cholla,
and the spines lock into your skin or your clothes.
And the bad thing is that once one spine
goes in, you try to knock it off,
and more spines dig in.
The only proper way.
(grunts)
And that hurts!
That really hurts.
The tips of these spines have little hooks on it.
The only way to really properly remove cholla
is with a multi-tool.
And once they dig into you like that, what you have to do,
is get the tool up underneath the spines,
and just like a band-aid, one, two,
(air whooshing)
you pop it off.
But of course, there's still gonna be some spines
stuck in there.
You see how hard those are to pull out,
that's because the hooks on the tips of the spines,
dig themselves into your skin,
and you wanna watch out for the rattlesnakes
and the scorpions,
but more often than not, it's the cholla
that are gonna ultimately get you.
All right, we're gonna work our way through this minefield,
(sighs)
and try to get into some open country,
where we're not dealing with the cacti.
(air whooshing)
The Southwest is often perceived as a hostile environment.
And if the plants don't get out,
then you better hope its collection
of venomous animals don't land a bite,
because that would be far worse than the spines of cholla.
Arizona specifically is home to more rattlesnake species
than any other state.
Boasting 13 of the world's 36 species,
all those 13 species, each one has a rattle,
a pair of pinched fangs,
and a venomous bite.
For most people encountering a snake
is like being caught in a nightmare.
But for me and Mario stumbling upon a rattlesnake
is a dream come true.
It's so much easier to move through a wash like this.
Here you got some rock structure up here.
Check this out!
(air whooshing)
Snake right there, right there!
Look at this.
Rattlesnake, it's the Sidewinder.
Yes!
Look at that perfectly camouflaged.
My goodness.!
Okay, come up real slow.
This snake gets its quintessential Sidewinder name,
from its style of locomotion.
When they slither,
they're capable of like lunging their bodies forward,
just curling side to side.
Now this is one of the smaller rattlesnake species
here in the Southwest.
And one of the least toxic, believe it or not,
of the 13 species of rattlesnake here in Arizona.
I would argue, say that this is the least toxic
but certainly still not a snake
that you would want be bitten by.
Okay, let me just take off my pack here,
so I have a bit more mobility.
Now when they want to, they can move pretty quickly,
so I have to keep myself mobile.
Let's see, can we get you to slither a little bit,
I wanna see that sidelining locomotion.
(air whooshing)
Okay, here we go!
Let's do this!
Nice getting into position.
(air whooshing)
Look at that defense right there.
That is strike pose.
The snake is saying, "don't get any closer
or I may strike out you."
Okay, because it's nestled down into these rocks,
let's move it just up here into this sand,
is a little more fluid.
Okay, there we go!
Now it's moving exactly where want it to,
but with these rocks, it's actually not able to move
quite as quick as we'd like.
Hey, let's do this!
I'm gonna gently move it into some softer sand.
Let's see.
(air whooshing)
There we go!
Okay, so yeah just move on his own.
(indistinct chatter)
I'm actually just let him get up onto the snake tones
and gently get over this tail,
just like that.
Okay, let's move up back this way.
Just a touch.
Careful, careful!
There we go!
Now, one of the coolest features of the Sidewinder,
and get real close, you look right into those eyes.
Are those little horns that you see up on top of the head.
When you're looking at the 13 rattlesnake species
here in Arizona,
this is the only snake with that design.
Now, the reason for those horns,
is that these snakes are capable of burying themselves
under the sand, they lay there in ambush,
waiting for the prey to get close.
Those little horns, help keep sand
and debris out of the eyes.
With just the eyes and his horn sticking up,
and something like a small rodent or a gecko comes close,
they can sense the heat signature
with those two little heat sensing pits up front
and then strike out with hinged fangs inject that venom.
You being so good just hanging out in that perfect
little ball right there.
I can see you're ready to launch off in that direction,
keep moving.
Stay!
(air whooshing)
Coming right for your cameras.
And it's so cool.
Just getting to see the snake in motion.
There we go!
Curl up into a little ball,
and curled up like that the snake
definitely feels more calm.
Let's just get real close.
Look at this quintessential rattlesnake
behavior right there.
Look how tiny that little rattle is.
And are we calmed down?
- You're actually pretty good.
You could, you could, you could kind of look
at that rattle a little bit more.
- Yeah, I really can't get close
to the rattle considering the fact
that this snake's body is blocked with the camera.
Now all rattlesnakes have rattle, right?
Some rattles are bigger than others.
People think that just because a rattlesnake,
rattle is big means that this snake is old,
that's not the case.
The rattle grows with the snake throughout its life.
Actually every time a snake sheds its skin,
the rattle grows an extended button.
Now Sidewinders, don't typically have very large rattles.
In fact, this is one of these smaller rattlesnake species.
So the snake feels very comfortable right now,
that it's actually up in the lens hood of the camera.
Now that we turn the light.
Okay there, that's perfect.
Look at that!
Now, when we're talking about dangerous
or potentially deadly animals here in the desert,
on a scale of one to five,
I would say that the Sidewinder automatically ranks
as a four because it is a rattlesnake,
but the toxicity of its venom is significantly
less as compared to its larger cousins,
like the Mojave and the Western Imac.
However, if you would ever be tagged,
which means bitten by one of these rattlesnakes,
you definitely want to seek medical attention.
You never know how your body will react to the venom.
And it does still have hematopoietic properties,
which basically means that it is going to affect the flow
and the structure of your blood.
All right, I think at this juncture
it's best that we let this snake slither back off,
into the night so we can keep hunting.
All right, Mario I'm gonna back up slowly.
If you wanna just tip your camera forward,
we'll watch it slither off into the night.
All right, so cool!
(air whooshing)
Whether fleeing and attacking predator
or avoiding the hot sun bait substrate,
the specialized method of movement
used by the Sidewinder,
is one of the greatest asset this snake has.
Combined with a mostly nocturnal existence,
and an impressive coat of camouflage.
These reptiles have successfully found a way
to survive in one of North America's
most inhospitable environments.
I was able to get up close and personal,
but that's certainly not something you should ever try.
Remember when it comes to venom,
you never know how your body will react.
And the bite from any rattlesnake species
is considered a medical emergency.
However, that doesn't mean
that you should be afraid of snakes.
The Sidewinder is a perfect example of a venomous creature,
that would rather flee than fight.
And if you ever stumble upon one in the wild,
consider yourself lucky to have encountered one
of Arizona's most interesting rattlesnakes.
(upbeat music)