What do rattlesnakes do when they have the urge to punch someone?
I’m pretty sure the loser was slinking away at the end.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
What do rattlesnakes do when they have the urge to punch someone?
I’m pretty sure the loser was slinking away at the end.
I always did wonder how snakes resolve disputes, now I know.
Hmm, are you sure that is fighting? It looks more like uphill snake is trying to determine if downhill snake might be receptive to making some baby snakes. Downhill snake is pretty focused on the photographer, but eventually decides that uphill snake is more annoying than the person with the camera.
That’s weird. Hissing and wrapping myself around people is how I resolve disputes too.
How do we know it’s not two girl-snakes?
@williamgeorge, TMI, way, way, way TMI.
*starts swaying*
*starts hissing*
Only male rattlesnakes do this combat dance, females don’t put up with that nonsense. Actual courtship usually is horizontal with the male rubbing his chin along the female’s back and neck.
http://www.snakes.ngo/lovers-and-fighters/
horrabin
thanks
I’ll be in my bunk.
I’ve seen that on TV shows before. See also: giraffes, who fight with their necks and horns. They would kill each other if they fought each other the way they fight lions.
left0ver1under @10:
Giraffes are still trying to kill or cripple each other when they fight. They aim for the underbelly and genitals of their opponents whenever they can.
As far as the original video, well Rock’m Sock’m Rattlesnakes.
Crikey!!!
microraptor confirms what I have seen.
I have seen video of them fighting to the death. After a 15 minute bout, one giraffe did not walk away, and died of his injuries over the next hour.
not kidding.
I have no idea how common it is, but likely when you get two very evenly matched opponents… you will indeed get serious fights and injuries involved. that’s not uncommon in fights over territory with most animals I have studied… even fish. if there is a noticeable size discrepancy, fights tend not to last long and nobody gets hurt, but if the combatants are equally matched… they tend to hold back less, and the fights are much longer.
the guy in the vid is simply wrong, or fudging it because the producers didn’t want him to talk about how really violent it is; it isn’t just a ritualistic thing… it’s real, damaging fighting.
…hell, IIRC it even was in an Attenborough video I saw a few years back.
I still can’t tell if that is a mating wrestle, or a fighting wrestle. I know that snakes determine gender by scent, and uphill snake is doing a lot of tongue flicking before he notices the person with the camera, and rears up to get a better look.
It is almost comical the way downhill snake repels twining wrestle with a couple of face strikes, and then stops dead and rears up at noticing the human in it’s escape path. “Hey, cool it you weirdo, get off me! *strike strike* slither Oh SHIT!”
Rattlesnakes in Arizona
Fun fact about the Mojave rattlesnake, now that it’s been brought up: despite the name, the Mojave Desert constitutes only a small portion of its range, which is continuous from California to west Texas and south to central Mexico. It also stands out among rattlesnakes for producing a strong neurotoxin in addition to a hemotoxin.
I can.
it was 2 males fighting.
end of.
Yeah, even though the larger snake isn’t doing the ritual upright head posture, kept trying to get away, won the fight, and did try to bite the one I am quite sure is an addlepated male, its clearly more logical to just assume it is two males on your say so.
You being an asshole is not appreciated.
end of
Severity of the fighting depends primarily on the stakes. If there are sufficient females around, and the males are young and have a lot of mating seasons ahead of them, competition fights for mating tend to be nonfatal. You see the fatal fights in species that only have a single breeding season, few females, or other conditions that mean it’s now or nothing.