FORT COLLINS, Colorado — They sneak, slide and glide over and around each other by the dozens. And now there is a webcam, so anyone can watch them online at any time, even at night.
A “mega den” with 2,000 rattlesnakes isn’t the ultimate binge-watching experience for many people. But it is a viewing bonanza for scientists and other snake enthusiasts whose observations contribute to a broader understanding of these unusual – and unfairly maligned – reptiles.
The remote location on private land in northern Colorado is set on a hillside filled with rocky gorges where the snakes can keep warm and hide from predators.
“This is a big, big rattlesnake den. This is one of the largest we know of,” Emily Taylor, a biology professor at California Polytechnic State University who is leading the Project RattleCam research, said Tuesday.
The Cal Poly researchers set up the webcam in May, using knowledge from an earlier webcam they set up at a rattlesnake den in California. The exact location in Colorado is being kept secret to discourage snake lovers — or haters — from messing with the snakes, Taylor said.
The Colorado rattlesnakes at high elevations seek refuge in the den for the winter and emerge in the spring for a short season of activity compared to rattlesnakes in the Southwest. At this time of year, only pregnant female snakes are in the den, while males and non-pregnant females move to lower elevations nearby.
In August the babies are born. They are called pups and unlike almost all other reptiles they do not hatch from eggs but are born alive.
Also unlike other snakes, rattlesnake mothers care for their young, protecting them from predators and shielding them with their bodies. Sometimes rattlesnakes will even care for the young of others.
“Rattlesnakes are actually really good mothers. People don’t realize that,” Taylor said.
A webcam helps scientists observe snake behavior without intervening. Meanwhile, people watching online tip scientists off about events they miss, or give them clues with their own knowledge of the local environment.
“It really is a collaborative effort, a collaborative scientific effort, that we as scientists couldn’t do alone,” Taylor said.
Every now and then there is drama.
Red-tailed hawks circle above, waiting for a chance to pounce for a meal. Once, a magpie—a black, white, and blue relative of crows with a long tail—caught a baby rattlesnake.
When it rains, rattlesnakes coil up and catch water from cups they have formed in their bodies.
Taylor expects an increase in activity after the young are born, and then even more so in September as snakes return from surrounding areas in preparation for winter.
Rattlesnakes get a bad rap as creepy and threatening. But the webcam shows they are social animals that don’t shy away from being aggressive, Taylor pointed out.
“I try to stand up for the underdog and show people that there is another side to rattlesnakes that deserves our admiration,” Taylor said.
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LaFleur reported from Dallas.