THE BABY RATTLESNAKES ARE CUDDLING. PLEASE ADJUST YOUR WORLDVIEW.
Livestream cameras in California, Colorado and Pennsylvania captured live rattlesnake births, dozens of newborns and baby snakes cuddling adults for protection. Apparently even rattlesnakes have a snuggle phase.
THE BABY RATTLESNAKES ARE CUDDLING. PLEASE ADJUST YOUR WORLDVIEW
For the first time, Project RattleCam's public livestreams caught rattlesnake births in three US states in a single season — and the newborns promptly piled onto the nearest available adult.
WHAT HAPPENED
Researchers observed the first newborns at the California den on July 30, in Colorado on August 11, and in Pennsylvania on September 8, on a camera that only went live in May. More than 60 newborn rattlesnakes have been counted at the Colorado site alone.
The cameras also caught a generational moment: a snake first documented as a newborn on the California camera in 2021 has now given birth to her own young at age five.
Cal Poly biologist Emily Taylor and Dickinson College's Scott Boback co-direct the project, and Cal Poly graduate student Anthony DiMeglio is studying whether the pups huddle with their own mother or with unrelated adults. Researchers read the huddling as protective behaviour against predators such as kingsnakes — not as affection.
WHY THIS IS HOPESLOP
Rattlesnakes get one public image, and it is not this one. A camera left running long enough shows something quieter: newborns tucked against adults, adults tolerating it, an entire social life nobody was invited to.
The scientists are careful to call it defence, not cuddling. We are going to enjoy the footage anyway.
ORIGINAL SOURCECal Poly / Project RattleCamRead the original report