They creep, slither, and slide over and around each other by the dozen and now there's a webcam so that anybody can watch them online at any time. A "mega den" with as many as 2,000 rattlesnakes is providing a viewing bonanza for scientists and other snake enthusiasts whose observations are helping to broaden understanding of these unusual—and undeservedly maligned—reptiles, reports the AP. The remote site in northern Colorado is on a hillside full of rock crevices where the snakes can keep warm and hide from predators. "This is a big, big den for rattlesnakes. This is one of the biggest ones we know of," says Emily Taylor, a California Polytechnic State University biology professor leading the Project RattleCam research.
The Cal Poly researchers set up the webcam in May at a location that's kept secret to discourage snake lovers—or haters—from messing with them, Taylor says. The high-elevation Colorado rattlesnakes take refuge in the den for winter and emerge in the spring for a short season of activity. This time of year, only pregnant female snakes are at the den while males and not-pregnant females move into the lower country nearby.
In August, the babies will be born. They're called pups and, unlike nearly 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 against predators and shielding them with their bodies. "Rattlesnakes are actually really good mothers. People don't know that," Taylor says.
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A webcam helps scientists observe behavior without interfering. Meanwhile, people watching online tip off scientists to events they miss, or clue them in with their own knowledge. "It truly is a group effort, a community science effort, that we couldn't do on our own as scientists," Taylor says. Rattlesnakes get a bum rap as creepy and threatening. But the webcam shows they're social animals that don't go out of their way to be aggressive. "I try to speak up for the underdog and to show people that rattlesnakes have this other side that's really worthy of our admiration," says Taylor. (More rattlesnake stories.)
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