Speaker 1: Welcome to Creature future production of I Heart Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: your host of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology
Speaker 1: and evolutionary biology, and today on the show Pit Vipers
Speaker 1: of America, from rattlesnakes to copper heads, we're talking about
Speaker 1: some of America's most dangerous cuty noodles. How does their
Speaker 1: venom work? Do they really want to bite your stinky
Speaker 1: ole leg? And how should we respect nature's most potent
Speaker 1: Linguini discover this and more as we answered the age
Speaker 1: old question why are we injecting horses with snake venom?
Speaker 1: Joining me today is naturalist Friend to Snakes and co
Speaker 1: host of the natural science podcast THO We out Here Podcast,
Speaker 1: Alexei Gruss. Welcome. Yeah, thanks for having me on, Katie.
Speaker 1: I really appreciate it. You know, I'm excited to talk
Speaker 1: about snakes and pretty much any guy under the sun,
Speaker 1: including the things that basket. Yes that I love that
Speaker 1: Turner phrase. I do love snakes, uh, And I think
Speaker 1: that I like to often point out some snakes on
Speaker 1: the show that are not venomous, you know, the sort
Speaker 1: of friendly snakes of the world. But I also think
Speaker 1: that we should still love and appreciate the more dangerous snakes,
Speaker 1: the snakes that know you should not cuddle, but they
Speaker 1: are still wonderful creatures, very amazing. Even their venom is amazing,
Speaker 1: even though you don't want it inside of you. Really.
Speaker 1: Uh So, I wanted to talk about pit vipers, and
Speaker 1: the most famous pit vipers in the US are rattle snakes.
Speaker 1: So yeah, rattlesnakes. There are thirty six species of rattle
Speaker 1: snakes and even more subspecies, and they are found all
Speaker 1: throughout the America's And yes, they are in fact highly venomous,
Speaker 1: aren't they They are? Yeah, yeah, that venom is is
Speaker 1: a pretty unique and special feature of these venomous snakes
Speaker 1: because they're able to inject it through their things, like
Speaker 1: actually through their teeth, which is pretty spectacular, pretty wild. Yeah.
Speaker 1: This was what was interesting because as I was researching it,
Speaker 1: I was starting to like write up stuff about like, no,
Speaker 1: it's not like a syringe. It's like the venom runs
Speaker 1: through a groove, because that is how it is with
Speaker 1: other venomous species. But you know, with these guys, it
Speaker 1: is actually like a syringe. They have these hollow things
Speaker 1: and a venom gland that actually squeezes it right into
Speaker 1: the fing mm hmm, that's right. Yeah, yeah, So what
Speaker 1: what One thing that I find actually incredibly interesting about
Speaker 1: that is there's a whole apparatus going on inside of there,
Speaker 1: from the venom gland to the part that's actually squeezing
Speaker 1: it to a gland that or a part that actually
Speaker 1: activates the venom before it is injected, So that venom
Speaker 1: that's trapped inside of their head isn't even the full
Speaker 1: venom that that's injected into their prey. Yeah, it is.
Speaker 1: It is amazing. So even though you know, it is
Speaker 1: kind of scary, it is an incredibly complex apparatus that
Speaker 1: they are using. Despite the fact that they have such
Speaker 1: a fancy mouth weapon. They really don't want to use
Speaker 1: it on you, a bumbling human who's stamping around in
Speaker 1: their environment. They want to use it on their prey,
Speaker 1: and it is only really a last resort when it
Speaker 1: comes to humans or predators. Snakes don't really want to
Speaker 1: waste a lot of energy producing their venom, you know,
Speaker 1: they want to save it primarily for their food. That's
Speaker 1: what it's originally adapted for. These snakes use it as
Speaker 1: a way to subdue prey instead of constricting them and
Speaker 1: they don't really want to waste it on a person's foot. Yeah, exactly, exactly, Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is it's precious material, and they do not want
Speaker 1: to waste it on you, and so they will try
Speaker 1: to warn you to leave them alone with their fabulous rattles.
Speaker 1: So that rattle is their way of saying, hey, back off,
Speaker 1: I don't want to bite you, you don't want to
Speaker 1: get bitten. Let's just have this situation resolved peacefully so
Speaker 1: I can go back to injecting mice with powerful toxins.
Speaker 1: So the rattle unlike a man made rattle where it's
Speaker 1: like a hollow chamber filled with something inside that rattles around.
Speaker 1: It's actually a series of hollow chambers made of keratin
Speaker 1: that stack on top of one another, and when vibrated,
Speaker 1: these hard hollow segments strike one another and produce a
Speaker 1: loud rattling sound, at least in the larger species. And
Speaker 1: the rattling muscles of rattlesnakes are some of the fastest
Speaker 1: muscles in the animal kingdom, with fifty pulses per second,
Speaker 1: which is incredible. That's bananas. I did not know that
Speaker 1: that's that. It's incredible. It's not surprising because when you
Speaker 1: see a rattlesnake rattling, you don't actually see it rattling.
Speaker 1: It's moving so fast that it just sometimes they can
Speaker 1: look like it's completely still. Yeah, it is. It is spectacular,
Speaker 1: and it's it's actually really interesting that they have this
Speaker 1: rattling system because it develops over the snake's lifetime, throughout
Speaker 1: their various shedding cycles. So when they're born, they just
Speaker 1: have this like little nub that can't rattle. It's just
Speaker 1: this one little segment, and every time they shed they
Speaker 1: actually are able to add a new segment to their rattles.
Speaker 1: So only after their second shedding can they actually rattle,
Speaker 1: because now they have two segments of the rattle, and
Speaker 1: every time it sheds, it adds a new segment. So
Speaker 1: with regard to those, uh, those rattles, a really cool
Speaker 1: thing that was recently that's recently been found is that
Speaker 1: they not only provide a sound cue, but they can
Speaker 1: also theoretically have a visual cueue. And what I mean
Speaker 1: by that is they are biofluorescent, so under a black light,
Speaker 1: they actually fluoresce. They show up being bright green under
Speaker 1: a black light. Uh. And so the question now is
Speaker 1: is there any benefit to having a fluorescent rattle like
Speaker 1: that because so few animals can actually see ultra violet light,
Speaker 1: but the ones that do this rattle would show up
Speaker 1: in a whole new light form. That is so cool.
Speaker 1: I didn't know that. And it seems like every day
Speaker 1: we discover more animals that biofluoress. Like we just have
Speaker 1: to run a black light over every living creature because
Speaker 1: so many of them biofluoress. But yeah, that is that
Speaker 1: is really interesting. Yeah, I love that secret secret glowing
Speaker 1: snake tails. Yeah, it shattered my mind when I first
Speaker 1: heard about it. Yeah. Yeah, another kind of secret power
Speaker 1: that these rattlesnakes have. I mean they are pit vipers,
Speaker 1: and they're called pit vipers not because they are vipers
Speaker 1: who are like writhing around in a pit, but because
Speaker 1: they have these heat sensing pits on the sides of
Speaker 1: their faces. So these are sensory organs that can detect
Speaker 1: thermal energy like a thermal imaging camera. Yeah. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: for the longest time I had understood that as oh,
Speaker 1: they can like feel the heat in a specific way,
Speaker 1: but no, they're able to create from what we understand,
Speaker 1: because it's really hard to actually see into the mind
Speaker 1: of an animal, but from the best understanding we have,
Speaker 1: we think they can like they can produce three D
Speaker 1: images in their own minds and incredibly similar to our vision,
Speaker 1: which is pretty pretty wild when you really start thinking
Speaker 1: about that. Yeah, that is so cool. They have they
Speaker 1: have heat sensing imaging sort of like some kind of
Speaker 1: Jason Born thing going on with these snakes, which is
Speaker 1: built in. Yeah, and it's really cool because I mean,
Speaker 1: their eyes are while they're very sensitive to movement, they
Speaker 1: don't really see in high definitions. So probably for a
Speaker 1: while we've thought about these snakes not having great vision,
Speaker 1: but working with those thermal imaging cameras they have in
Speaker 1: their face pits, it's like, maybe they actually do have
Speaker 1: pretty good, uh, sort of precise imaging that we just
Speaker 1: didn't know about because we looked at their eyes and
Speaker 1: they're like, oh their eyes, don't you know? Their eyes
Speaker 1: have blurry visions, So how can how can they make
Speaker 1: up well defined images of their environment? Right? And and
Speaker 1: we don't consider them a very you know, very intelligent
Speaker 1: animals like elephants and orcas, but you really have to
Speaker 1: give it up for their brain for being able to
Speaker 1: process that much information, because that's so much more sensory
Speaker 1: information than we're receiving because they can also you know,
Speaker 1: hear through their jaws, they can feel vibrations through their belly,
Speaker 1: they're seeing those heat images. They're taking in uh, you know,
Speaker 1: dimensional smells with their forked tongue. Like they're processing a
Speaker 1: lot of sensory information in their environment. And for them
Speaker 1: to be able to do that, utilize it, and make
Speaker 1: decisions in their lives is that's that's kind of mind blowing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that is absolutely amazing. They're like a one of the
Speaker 1: most advanced cameras in the world that can have night
Speaker 1: vision and heat vision that can also slither around and
Speaker 1: make decisions. Yeah. Yeah, so, yes, they have a very
Speaker 1: good sense of smell as well as do all snakes.
Speaker 1: They can use their nostrils and they also use their
Speaker 1: tongue to sort of flick They flick out their tongue
Speaker 1: and kind of pull in smelly particles and transfer them
Speaker 1: to an old factory or organ located on the roof
Speaker 1: of their mouth. Mm hmm. So, which makes them just
Speaker 1: the ultimate detection uh machine. And it makes a lot
Speaker 1: of sense because they are ambush predators. They don't necessarily
Speaker 1: go chasing after their prey. They lay in wait or
Speaker 1: try to sneak up to some of their prey and
Speaker 1: then strike quickly at them to get them before these
Speaker 1: little mice and little reptiles even know what hit them. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: and a pretty cool thing. The pit vipers that we
Speaker 1: have here, a lot of their a lot of their
Speaker 1: pits are oriented towards the front of their snow and
Speaker 1: that allows them to see those you know, those small
Speaker 1: rodents typically or birds that pass in front of them,
Speaker 1: whereas there's us. There's another type of snake called the
Speaker 1: children's python. That is uh it's a python non vi,
Speaker 1: a mis snake, a constrictor that lives in Australia. It's
Speaker 1: one of the smallest constrictors they have there. This one
Speaker 1: is a cave dweller, so it'll actually climb up the
Speaker 1: walls of the caves with its incredibly muscular body and
Speaker 1: when bats fly by, it's able to catch these bats.
Speaker 1: And so when you think about it, it wouldn't want
Speaker 1: its pits in the front of its face. Instead, this
Speaker 1: python has pits located on the sides of its jaw
Speaker 1: so that I actually can see the back coming. So
Speaker 1: the location of the pit can actually tell us a
Speaker 1: little bit about the type of prey it's going for,
Speaker 1: and that pit development is definitely a response to the
Speaker 1: environment that the snake is living in. That is so cool.
Speaker 1: It's like, Hey, I've got some bat as prey that
Speaker 1: have wings and can fly around my head. No problem,
Speaker 1: I'll just put my heat detecting super sensors up over
Speaker 1: here so they can detect these bats. That is incredible. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: to be able to like predict their movement with that
Speaker 1: is wow. I'm just my blown even just talking about
Speaker 1: it right now. I also love the cave dwelling snake.
Speaker 1: I don't think we think of pythons or I don't
Speaker 1: think we think of snakes as living in caves, but yes,
Speaker 1: they will inhabit every niche that they can. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: pretty spectacular. And when you live in you know, dark
Speaker 1: environments like that, a lot of animals will develop specialized
Speaker 1: eyes for it, or you know, their eyes may virtually
Speaker 1: go away, right, don't need them. Right, So with snakes,
Speaker 1: a lot of snakes will have this slit pupil and
Speaker 1: that isn't an indicator of whether or not a snake
Speaker 1: is venomous or non venomous. Uh, it's actually an indicator
Speaker 1: of whether or not the snake is active in dim light.
Speaker 1: That's the biggest teller because if you think about it,
Speaker 1: a cat has the same type of eye. The cat
Speaker 1: is not venomous as much as they can be pretty spicy.
Speaker 1: So these snakes that have a slit pupil, typically they're
Speaker 1: going to be active in really low lights. On top
Speaker 1: of that, a slip pupil is typically only good if
Speaker 1: you live near a lowser or near a surface. So
Speaker 1: cats house cats are pretty pretty short animals, so they
Speaker 1: you know, they live near the ground, whereas a tiger,
Speaker 1: they can be pretty active during the nighttime. They actually
Speaker 1: have a circular pupil, So you'll see a lot of
Speaker 1: venomous snakes like cobras will have a circular pupil, whereas
Speaker 1: a lot of other venomous snakes like these pit vipers
Speaker 1: in the US, a lot of them do have these, uh,
Speaker 1: these slip pupils. That is so fascinating. I love that
Speaker 1: snakes really are like rattlesnakes really are kind of like
Speaker 1: noodle cats, but with venom they are. Yeah, especially the
Speaker 1: especially the cane brake rattlesnakes or a lot of people
Speaker 1: know them as timber rattlesnakes, they're you know, they You
Speaker 1: don't want to get bitten by them, You don't want
Speaker 1: to cuddle them, you want to respect their space. But man,
Speaker 1: they're big puppies, especially you know, anyone who's actually handled
Speaker 1: one with snake hooks and proper equipment and training, they yeah,
Speaker 1: they're they're just big, big sausages, big sausages, big old head,
Speaker 1: big old body. Short. I love that. Yes, I mean
Speaker 1: I think that it is just because these snakes are
Speaker 1: dangerous when they bite, doesn't mean that they are aggressive. Uh.
Speaker 1: In fact, I think from what I've read, most of
Speaker 1: the pit vipers who are the more the more deadly
Speaker 1: in terms of their toxicity, they tend to be less aggressive,
Speaker 1: whereas some of the more aggressive ones tend to be
Speaker 1: a little less venomous. That's not always the case, but uh,
Speaker 1: it does seem like that is often the case. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And different different species can can be more responsive than others,
Speaker 1: and that can depend on a lot of different factors,
Speaker 1: on whether or not they have other signifiers of their
Speaker 1: toxicity or you know, if they have better camouflage or not.
Speaker 1: It can also be effected of by you know what
Speaker 1: sort of predators they may have in the area, something
Speaker 1: that I you know as as someone who's trained to
Speaker 1: handle venomous snakes and often does UH. One of the
Speaker 1: most important things that we understand is that the majority
Speaker 1: of really bad snake bites and the majority of snake
Speaker 1: bites period are coming from people who are inappropriately or
Speaker 1: attempting to handle and mainly people who are trying to
Speaker 1: kill venomous snakes. A lot of times when folks are
Speaker 1: trying to trying to kill a snake, they find that
Speaker 1: is when they get bitten. So if you do find
Speaker 1: a venomous snake in your area and you're not comfortable
Speaker 1: with where it's at, it's always good to call an expert.
Speaker 1: You know a lot of them will come out for
Speaker 1: free and we'll move the snake. You can always call
Speaker 1: up your local zoo and they can oftentimes connect you
Speaker 1: with someone who can handle that for you, or local
Speaker 1: animal control, especially if they have the proper handling and permitting.
Speaker 1: You don't try to kill a rattle snake and don't
Speaker 1: even like it's If you see a rattlesnake or any
Speaker 1: snake that also looks dead, don't pick it up because
Speaker 1: and don't message can still be highly venomous even when
Speaker 1: they are dead. So you really just don't want to
Speaker 1: mess with these guys. Uh, just leave them alone unless
Speaker 1: you are highly trained. Yeah, yeah, exactly a lot of times,
Speaker 1: if if you see a snake, a venomous one that
Speaker 1: is living around your house, chances are you got something
Speaker 1: around your house that's drawing them in. So the best
Speaker 1: way to really get rid of snakes, if you have
Speaker 1: too many in your area or you're not comfortable with them,
Speaker 1: usually it's to get rid of the mice. You know,
Speaker 1: if you can handle the mice in your area, and
Speaker 1: if you can get rid of your pest problem, it's
Speaker 1: gonna stop drawing in the predators who rely on those
Speaker 1: pests for food. Yeah. See, if they're they're noodle cats
Speaker 1: with spicy bites. Yeah. And the number one best way
Speaker 1: to handle venomous snakes in your area is to support
Speaker 1: animals like king snakes, support your local raptors. And then
Speaker 1: also if you live in the southeast, you know, supporting
Speaker 1: conservationists who relocate indigo snakes. Indigo snakes are the largest
Speaker 1: snake I believe that we have in North America, getting
Speaker 1: up to like nine ft long and they will eat
Speaker 1: a snake as big as an Eastern diamond bag, which
Speaker 1: is insane. You could probably find some good videos. I've
Speaker 1: seen a few on Twitter of scientists who ran across
Speaker 1: uh an indigo snake consuming an Eastern diamond bag. That
Speaker 1: is incredible, just wild. Yeah. Yeah. And even in the
Speaker 1: areas that indigoes were reintroduced in, like Alabama, they're actually
Speaker 1: seeing a really positive response in the bird population. A
Speaker 1: lot of these birds have started growing in population thanks
Speaker 1: to the relocation of these snakes. It's just it's so
Speaker 1: important to preserve species because of the interconnectedness of them
Speaker 1: where you know, instead of thinking like we've gotta eliminate
Speaker 1: these rattlesnakes, we gotta you know, like humans have to
Speaker 1: go out and kill a bunch of them, cold them,
Speaker 1: you know. Just supporting the indigenous species often will correct
Speaker 1: the if there are too many rattle snakes or too
Speaker 1: many of a certain type of animal, like you just
Speaker 1: support the balance of the species in that area, and
Speaker 1: usually things will kind of sort itself out. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: A lot of conservation can also be supported, you know,
Speaker 1: globally by supporting indigenous people because a lot of them
Speaker 1: living on the land a lot of them have really
Speaker 1: great cultural practices that actually, you know, in intentionally and
Speaker 1: incidentally protect a lot of these land spaces. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I mean it's one of the greatest tragedies of you know,
Speaker 1: the natural history of the United States. That I mean,
Speaker 1: the cultural genocide of the people who are living here
Speaker 1: before white settlers came here. Also, in addition to it
Speaker 1: being a humanitarian crisis, of course, is also an ecological
Speaker 1: crisis because so many of the practices that had been
Speaker 1: developed over thousands and thousands of years that helped cultivate
Speaker 1: the natural landscape were lost or even made illegal, like
Speaker 1: the way that in California now famously a tinderbox. Uh,
Speaker 1: there used to be controlled burns of the lands by
Speaker 1: tribes that lived in California, and that was made illegal
Speaker 1: for logging purposes. And unfortunately, uh, the that those old
Speaker 1: strategies of doing controlled burns were really good for maintaining
Speaker 1: the forests. It even would have like these far reaching
Speaker 1: effects like helping fish populations by creating these plumes that
Speaker 1: would shade the rivers. Yeah. So it was this amazing
Speaker 1: way of sort of keeping the land safe not only
Speaker 1: for humans, but for animals and flora. As well. But
Speaker 1: then we just you know, white settlers who wanted to
Speaker 1: make money from logging made it illegal, and now here
Speaker 1: we have California which is just constantly going up in flames. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: and something that you know, a lot of us who
Speaker 1: are educated under you know, under a Western curriculum in school,
Speaker 1: a lot of us think that humans are separated from
Speaker 1: the land, when the reality is some ecosystems in North
Speaker 1: America were actively created by indigenous people because they've been
Speaker 1: here for as much as long as more than twenty
Speaker 1: tho years, and that's older than a lot of ecosystems
Speaker 1: that are around us right now. So a lot of
Speaker 1: these ecosystems were impacted by humans who have lived here.
Speaker 1: Those humans are a keystone species now and back then,
Speaker 1: for better and or for worse. You know, beavers are
Speaker 1: sort of our counterparts of one of the other species
Speaker 1: of animals that have a very drastic effect on their environment.
Speaker 1: Although I think, uh, at least in comparing to more
Speaker 1: modern times, so beavers are better at being good stewards
Speaker 1: of their more as inconvenient as they may seem, they
Speaker 1: are incredibly beneficial. Yes, but yeah, no, that is exactly right.
Speaker 1: It is I think so important to remember that there
Speaker 1: are ways to live with our uh, live with our
Speaker 1: natural resources, uh and the indigenous species in a way
Speaker 1: that is productive and non destructive. And we don't just
Speaker 1: because something seems kind of scary or dangerous doesn't mean
Speaker 1: we need to eliminate it. And in fact, by eliminating it,
Speaker 1: we can get a have a bunch of compounding problems.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm, yeah, yeah, uh you know, and those compounding
Speaker 1: problems can show up as you know, explosions in the
Speaker 1: mouse population. I don't know about anyone else, but I'd
Speaker 1: rather see a snake than see twenty mice in my house. Yes,
Speaker 1: you know, and uh you know those exploding you know,
Speaker 1: like with the white footed mouse population. I believe that's
Speaker 1: the right species. You know, they carry a lot of
Speaker 1: tickborn illnesses. Um, you know, you can you can see
Speaker 1: that show up in in public health. It affects us
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways. It's expensive economically, um you
Speaker 1: know it. It hurts our infrastructure. So no matter what
Speaker 1: your perspective is, you know, protecting wildlife and protecting the
Speaker 1: planet has a benefit on every single level you could
Speaker 1: possibly imagine. Yeah exactly, I mean, uh, like we said, before.
Speaker 1: These rattlesnakes really don't want to bite you. They want
Speaker 1: to bite mice because that is their food, and they
Speaker 1: don't want to waste their precious spicy mouth venom on
Speaker 1: you because it is really for them to be able
Speaker 1: to hunt. When we get back, we will talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about what happens if a rattlesnake does bite you,
Speaker 1: why you shouldn't panic, and the mechanism behind the venom
Speaker 1: and why it is so interesting. Alright, so I hope
Speaker 1: that we have u given people a perspective with the
Speaker 1: rattlesnakes that no, they are not a scary monster that
Speaker 1: we should get rid of, but their bites are dangerous.
Speaker 1: And yes, it is true that if you do not
Speaker 1: get treatment for a rattlesnake bite, it can kill. But
Speaker 1: because there is so much available anti venom in the US,
Speaker 1: if you get treated, the best time is to get
Speaker 1: treated as soon as possible and within two hours of
Speaker 1: being bitten. If you do, your chance of survival is
Speaker 1: well over. And often, actually rattlesnakes may bite and not
Speaker 1: even distribute venom. It's called a dry bite, and it
Speaker 1: happens in roughly of reported bites. That's not to say,
Speaker 1: you should assume if you've been bitten that it was
Speaker 1: a dry bite. You should always uh seek medical attention.
Speaker 1: But the best thing to do is to make sure
Speaker 1: don't get bitten by giving rattlesnakes a respectful distance. So
Speaker 1: there are some rattlesnake safety things that I think are
Speaker 1: really important, especially the summer as you're going out and
Speaker 1: um maybe doing some hiking. One thing is always have
Speaker 1: your dog leash when you're going hiking. Even if you
Speaker 1: have a really well behaved dog who will has good recall,
Speaker 1: it is really good for your dog safety as well
Speaker 1: as the safety of wildlife to keep them on a
Speaker 1: leash because dogs are the most at risk for death
Speaker 1: from rattlesnake bites because they are smaller and the rattlesnake
Speaker 1: venom will affect them much more quickly. Yeah. Yeah, actually,
Speaker 1: you know that I have a personal story with that.
Speaker 1: You know, I lost a dog to attle snake bite.
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry. Yeah, she was a Siberian Husky, a
Speaker 1: really really great dog, but you know, we were you know,
Speaker 1: we would keep her off leash and especially when when
Speaker 1: we went up to the mountains. Uh. You know, as
Speaker 1: as an adult now having learned as much as I
Speaker 1: have about ecology. I you know, when walking a dog,
Speaker 1: I always keep them on leash. In addition to you know,
Speaker 1: protecting the wildlife, it also protects the people around you.
Speaker 1: But yeah, she was bitten around her face and neck,
Speaker 1: and unfortunately the vet wasn't able to wasn't able to
Speaker 1: save her. She was a little bit older, but you know,
Speaker 1: she would still potentially be around if actually, no, she
Speaker 1: would she would definitely be dead by now because she'd
Speaker 1: be an ancient husky. But you know, yeah, yeah, we
Speaker 1: lost the dog prematurely to snake by You know, it's
Speaker 1: something that a lot of people, a lot of people
Speaker 1: think of as really abstracted, but it's you know, it's
Speaker 1: something that will impact you, you know, emotionally if you
Speaker 1: care about your dog. But then on top of that,
Speaker 1: it was not cheap, that was that was a lot
Speaker 1: of crofab that they had to give that dog. And
Speaker 1: you know, on top of losing, you know, losing what
Speaker 1: we considered a family member, it also incurred a pretty
Speaker 1: stiff bill. Yes, yeah, I am so sorry to hear
Speaker 1: that happened. That is so sad. Yeah, exactly, And I
Speaker 1: think it's something that it's hard to like even imagine
Speaker 1: that would happen. Like when you're taking your dog on
Speaker 1: a walk, you just don't you think about maybe keeping
Speaker 1: them safe from cars, but from snakes, it just isn't.
Speaker 1: It isn't something that we're necessarily aware of all the time. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and cats as well, you can also can also be
Speaker 1: a pretty big danger to almost said to dogs, Yes,
Speaker 1: to dogs, but two snakes. Cats are you know, really quick,
Speaker 1: they're very nimble, and they can wear a snake down.
Speaker 1: And while you know a lot of people do enjoy
Speaker 1: seeing a cool video of a cat beating a snake
Speaker 1: in a fight, the reality is that, you know, the
Speaker 1: loss of these snakes again causes a lot of damage.
Speaker 1: And if your cat does get bit, and that's a
Speaker 1: very serious bite for your cat to manage and hopefully
Speaker 1: get home from. Yeah, yeah, I mean keep keep your
Speaker 1: cats and dogs safe and keep wildlife safe by just
Speaker 1: keeping them, uh, you know, keep them separated, like your
Speaker 1: your cat and your dog is uh, they're lovely companions
Speaker 1: to having your home or outside on the leash. But yeah,
Speaker 1: you just want to you want to keep everybody safe,
Speaker 1: and in order to keep yourself safe from rattle snakes,
Speaker 1: you want to read signs and stay on marked paths.
Speaker 1: Snakes rattle snakes are not aggressive. They want to avoid you.
Speaker 1: So if they know there is a well trodden path
Speaker 1: where lots of people use it, they're going to avoid that.
Speaker 1: If you wear boots, thick socks, and long jeans, that
Speaker 1: actually does offer a good amount of protection. Especially thicker jeans.
Speaker 1: I'm not talking like jeggings, um, but but yeah, like
Speaker 1: night good quality thick jeans will actually help prevent some
Speaker 1: of the injection of the venom. Uh. And so if
Speaker 1: you have to walk in an area where you're sort
Speaker 1: of your ankles are brushing up against a lot of brush,
Speaker 1: wearing stuff around your ankles is gonna help protect you. Uh.
Speaker 1: And of course, if you see or hear a rattlesnake,
Speaker 1: do not panic. Just stop where you are, calmly, try
Speaker 1: to locate where the snake is, like, listen for it,
Speaker 1: look around, and once you have located the source of
Speaker 1: the rattle, just very calmly back away because the rattle
Speaker 1: snake is scared of you right now. So if you
Speaker 1: make a sudden like if you run or make a
Speaker 1: sudden movement, it's going to also be startled. Uh. So
Speaker 1: you just want to you know, you see the snake
Speaker 1: and you calmly kind of back away. You don't want
Speaker 1: to startle it. You don't want to run, and if
Speaker 1: you are bitten again, don't panic. Rattlesnake bites are highly
Speaker 1: highly survivable. You will survive if you get treatment. You
Speaker 1: don't want to run, and you want to limit your
Speaker 1: movement because you don't want to like, the more you run,
Speaker 1: the more you move around, like the more your heartbeats, uh,
Speaker 1: it'll kind of more quickly distribute the vino. So if
Speaker 1: you call emergency services, see if they can come pick
Speaker 1: you up where you are, and then just kind of
Speaker 1: sit down and rest, of course away from the snake,
Speaker 1: but you know, just kind of try. I know, it's
Speaker 1: like you're probably it's easier said than done to not panic,
Speaker 1: but you just want to kind of sit and rest
Speaker 1: um if you're somewhere where you can't get picked up
Speaker 1: and taken to a hospital. But it's also incredibly important
Speaker 1: to call poison control. That's something that not a lot
Speaker 1: of people talk about, and the reason why is that
Speaker 1: poison control will be your advocate when you're speaking to
Speaker 1: a medical professional. They are the ones that know a
Speaker 1: lot about venom. Uh, they know a lot about toxification,
Speaker 1: and they will advise your doctor on how much anti
Speaker 1: venom to give you. And that's really important because you know,
Speaker 1: if you're given too little, you may you may experience
Speaker 1: invenomation effects later on from it not being neutralized. So
Speaker 1: you definitely want to speak to poison Control um and
Speaker 1: give them a call. If you've got an iPhone, you know,
Speaker 1: hit Syrie and have her called him for you. But
Speaker 1: it's incredibly important to get ahold of poison control. That
Speaker 1: is really good advice. Yes, uh. And there are some
Speaker 1: kinds of like old wives tales about things you should
Speaker 1: do when you get bitten by the should absolutely not do.
Speaker 1: Maybe the most famous one is sucking venom out of
Speaker 1: the wound. Do not do that. It's not going to
Speaker 1: help you. And now you've just got venom in your mouth,
Speaker 1: right right, because yeah, the moment you're bitten, that venom
Speaker 1: is most of it is left the area in best
Speaker 1: case scenario, if you just as you said, if it's
Speaker 1: in the area, now it's in your mouth, yeah, and
Speaker 1: you can absorb a lot through your gums or any
Speaker 1: small nicks or cuts in your in that gum surface. Yes,
Speaker 1: you've got you might swallow something, which is also bad.
Speaker 1: You've got mucus membranes all over your mouth and down
Speaker 1: your throat, and you don't want venom in there. You
Speaker 1: also do not want to apply a tourniquet. While it's
Speaker 1: true you don't want the venom to quickly like you
Speaker 1: don't want to pump your heart really fast and quickly
Speaker 1: get the venom going, you also don't want to stop
Speaker 1: the flow of blood because you do want some delution
Speaker 1: of the venom. If you apply a tourniquet, it just
Speaker 1: means that the venom is going to kill the cells
Speaker 1: in that area, and much more quickly because it's in
Speaker 1: such higher concentrations. So you may actually need amputation if
Speaker 1: you apply a tourniquet, whereas if you do not do that,
Speaker 1: you just kind of calmly wait for emergency services and
Speaker 1: poison control. You may, after you get treatment, have no
Speaker 1: lasting ill effects. Yeah yeah. And then on top of that,
Speaker 1: eventually you have to take the tourniquit off. And what
Speaker 1: can happen is all of that venom can exit your
Speaker 1: arm or your leg at the same time, so that
Speaker 1: it can it can provide an even bigger effect on
Speaker 1: your body right after the tourniquets pulled off. So yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: definitely avoid the tourniquet as much as we all want
Speaker 1: to be arnold, you know, putting that tourniquet on with
Speaker 1: like putting the belt around our leg and tugging it
Speaker 1: with our teeth. Like as cool as it looks, it's
Speaker 1: not a it's not a good vibe when you're actually
Speaker 1: out there having having to manage it. If you do
Speaker 1: have a bandage on you, if you have something like
Speaker 1: a compression bandage, that actually can be a good option
Speaker 1: for some snake bites. And when I say compression bandage,
Speaker 1: I mean wrapping it around your entire arm or down
Speaker 1: your entire leg evenly, providing even pressure, and that can
Speaker 1: reduce the swelling and inflammation that can happen. But again,
Speaker 1: do not cut off circulation. Rap it sort of like
Speaker 1: you have an injured ankle, you know, that same type
Speaker 1: of wovenly across the whole lamb. Yeah, like like compression
Speaker 1: socks on an airplane level. You don't want you don't
Speaker 1: want to cut off blood circulation. Ye, yeah, yeah, so
Speaker 1: you don't. You don't want to panic. Very very few
Speaker 1: people actually die from rattlesnake bites in the US, even
Speaker 1: though a lot of people are accidentally bitten. So with
Speaker 1: treatment you will be fine. And by relaxing by and
Speaker 1: certainly by not attacking the snake, you're much less likely
Speaker 1: to actually get So it is, it is something that
Speaker 1: is you can cope with. We have so many ways
Speaker 1: to protect against snake bites and to treat them once
Speaker 1: you've gotten it, so it is not a reason to
Speaker 1: panic and like cut your arm off. Don't do that, Katie, Katie,
Speaker 1: can I share with you one of the wildest ones
Speaker 1: I've ever heard of? Yes? So, okay, so I didn't.
Speaker 1: I'd never heard about this growing up. I grew up
Speaker 1: in central California, lived in the Midwest for a while,
Speaker 1: lived down in New Orleans now, but I had never
Speaker 1: heard about this until I took a snake corpse. Apparently
Speaker 1: some people you know, grew up under the thought that
Speaker 1: you can actually reduce or treat a snake bite by
Speaker 1: applying an electrical current, and that one, that one is
Speaker 1: incredibly why old to me. So if you live in
Speaker 1: an area where that's you know, that's like the zeitgeist,
Speaker 1: are like the thing people say you should do in
Speaker 1: response to a snake by please don't electrocute yourself trying
Speaker 1: to like neutralize the venom. Oh my gosh, don't do that.
Speaker 1: It's just gonna hurt you. I love all of these
Speaker 1: I love, and by saying I love, I don't actually
Speaker 1: love them all these like sort of these myths or
Speaker 1: old wives tales about treating things like jellyfish stings where
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, just pee on it, and it's like
Speaker 1: that that's gonna make it. It's gonna not only is
Speaker 1: it probably gonna make it worse, make those like little
Speaker 1: neuro toxins activate more. It's just now you've got you're
Speaker 1: covered in pete like what yeah, Like you don't need
Speaker 1: to go hot wire a car and like fry your
Speaker 1: arm after getting bitten by a snake, like just chills,
Speaker 1: like wait for the doctor to come. Chill and I
Speaker 1: mean once you have called emergency services and they're on
Speaker 1: their way, then you chill. Just relax and yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you do want treatment though, because rattlesnake venom does do
Speaker 1: a doozy when left to its own devices. It depends
Speaker 1: on the species of rattlesnake, of course, but their venom
Speaker 1: is often highly potent. In the most basic sense. The
Speaker 1: way that venom and toxins work in general is they
Speaker 1: bind two receptors on cells which blocks them from normal functioning,
Speaker 1: and this can result in cell death. So, uh, snake
Speaker 1: venom has there is not one recipe for snake venom.
Speaker 1: There's not even one recipe for rattlesnake venom. There are
Speaker 1: many wonderful recipes for deadly venom. They have a number
Speaker 1: of different acting toxins in it. So the most famous,
Speaker 1: I suppose rattlesnake, the western diamond back. Uh, it's that
Speaker 1: large rattlesnake. It's I think the most typical culprit for
Speaker 1: snake bites because they're the most You're the most likely
Speaker 1: to encounter these snakes and they're found in southwestern US
Speaker 1: and in Mexico. And their venom works primarily through hemotoxins,
Speaker 1: so toxins that effect the blood cells and blood vessels,
Speaker 1: as well as toxins that can destroy other cells and
Speaker 1: muscle tissue. And so this causes internal hemorrhaging and restriction
Speaker 1: of blood flow. This is what will cause you the
Speaker 1: most harm, and this is you need treatment for this.
Speaker 1: While it is not the most potent per sort of
Speaker 1: drop of venom of rattlesnakes, they are capable of injecting
Speaker 1: more venom per bite due to their large things in
Speaker 1: venom sacks. So you don't want to mess with the
Speaker 1: western diamond back, but it is very treatable mm hmmm,
Speaker 1: yeah yeah um. And one really relieving thing is that
Speaker 1: you know when you get when or not. And if
Speaker 1: you get bitten by a snake, especially a venomous one,
Speaker 1: you don't actually have to identify the snake. All you
Speaker 1: have to do is if you go to the doctor,
Speaker 1: you're just like I got bitten by a regular, regular,
Speaker 1: any sort of snake, venomous snake, and we right exactly
Speaker 1: Joe snake. And you can get treated with this with
Speaker 1: a singular type one of two types of anti venan uh.
Speaker 1: And so that is a huge relief. Back in the
Speaker 1: day we used to think that you had to identify
Speaker 1: the type of snake and all that, no worries. You
Speaker 1: can just go You don't even have to look the
Speaker 1: snake in the eye after after it happens, uh, and
Speaker 1: the doctor will be able to treat you with crofab
Speaker 1: or anna vib um. But what's really important is that Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, in the past with with those venoms, people
Speaker 1: used to have strong allergic reactions to them. That's not
Speaker 1: a case anymore. We've actually figured out how to produce
Speaker 1: them where there is a very low, very very low
Speaker 1: likelihood of a person having an allergic reaction to them.
Speaker 1: So you should theoretically be able to get the maximum
Speaker 1: dosage to handle that without any risk of anaphylaxis or anything.
Speaker 1: And you know, if that does happen, you're in the
Speaker 1: perfect place for it. All you have to do is
Speaker 1: get hit with an EPI pin and you're good to go.
Speaker 1: The hospital is the best place to have a medical emergency.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean, so do we still actually use
Speaker 1: forces to produce anti venom? Yeah, yeah, we do. It's
Speaker 1: it's a wild complicated process, you know. So they essentially
Speaker 1: they get sort of like the Napoleon treatment where they
Speaker 1: get this very very small amount. Okay, So how the
Speaker 1: whole process works is a snake gets milked for their venom,
Speaker 1: which essentially means that a snake is taken of venomus
Speaker 1: snake like a rattler. Uh, and they are they're made
Speaker 1: to inject their venom into a cup or flask. Uh.
Speaker 1: That amount of venom, A small amount of it is
Speaker 1: injected into a horse, not enough to harm the horse
Speaker 1: or anything like that, because you know, they chose an
Speaker 1: animal that's incredibly large on top of that, so their
Speaker 1: body produces this, uh, this reactive response that produces their
Speaker 1: own sort of UM I want to say, essentially an
Speaker 1: antibody response. So we're able to take those We basically
Speaker 1: take blood from the horse, we spin it, separate out
Speaker 1: those antibodies, especially the stuff that's in the plasma I believe, um.
Speaker 1: And then we have learned and figured out this process
Speaker 1: where we can essentially cut that up. And so in
Speaker 1: the past, we would take that and it would have
Speaker 1: these cell markers or these markers on them that were
Speaker 1: very specific to the horse. And when people would get
Speaker 1: that anti venom, our bodies would respond to that. You know,
Speaker 1: we've our bodies and say, oh, this is a foreign substance,
Speaker 1: and thus our body with our bodies would attack uh
Speaker 1: and cause this allergic response. But we figured out a
Speaker 1: way to cut out essentially the markers that show that
Speaker 1: it is from a horse, so our body just let's say,
Speaker 1: let's say ride. It's like all right, great, you gotta pass.
Speaker 1: Get on the plane, let's go, and so they you know,
Speaker 1: your body can actually utilize, uh, this anti venom as
Speaker 1: though we produce it ourselves. It's like the opposite of
Speaker 1: a Trojan horse. It's like the Trojan No, this isn't
Speaker 1: from a horse. So it's like a giant person walking
Speaker 1: in a bunch of horses are inside. That's that's kind
Speaker 1: of like the vibe. It's the reverse Trojan horse. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Trojan horse, giant person, a lot of horses inside, and
Speaker 1: the horses help you. Yeah, exactly, the horse Trojan. I
Speaker 1: love that. I love that so much. So we've talked
Speaker 1: about rattlesnakes, those little rascally spicy noodles, but they are
Speaker 1: not the only pit vipers found in the US, and
Speaker 1: I'm going to talk about just a couple of them.
Speaker 1: So first I want to talk about the cotton mouth.
Speaker 1: They are found in the southeastern US, and they look
Speaker 1: kind of so alert to a rattlesnake. I'm sure for
Speaker 1: someone who is familiar with rattlesnakes that would be very
Speaker 1: offensive for me to say. But they, you know, to
Speaker 1: someone that just you know, it's like, oh, that's that's
Speaker 1: a snake. Yeah, they kind of look like a rattlesnake,
Speaker 1: but they do not have a rattle. Uh. Instead, it
Speaker 1: will display its mouth to potential threats. So it is
Speaker 1: venomous just like the rattlesnake, and it doesn't want to
Speaker 1: waste its venom on you, silly human. It will try
Speaker 1: to warn you by coiling itself up and opening its
Speaker 1: jaws really wide, which reveals this like kind of white,
Speaker 1: little bit pinkish lining in its mouth. And that is
Speaker 1: where its name cotton mouth comes from. Yeah. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: the cotton mouth will tail rattle on in addition to that,
Speaker 1: but instead it's slapping its tail against sticks and leaves
Speaker 1: around it, so it produces a similar sound, but just
Speaker 1: not with a specialized manchanism. Yeah, exactly, Which is really
Speaker 1: interesting when you think about these these are all pit vipers,
Speaker 1: there's somewhat related. Do you know if this is like
Speaker 1: a case of parallel evolution or did they like have
Speaker 1: a common ancestor who had that sort of shaking mechanism. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so that is the question, you know, because a lot
Speaker 1: of a lot of snakes do it in the US.
Speaker 1: I've seen rat snakes do it as well. I've seen
Speaker 1: king snakes do it. So I what I wonder is
Speaker 1: if snakes have been doing this and then the rattlesnake
Speaker 1: just developed a specialized mechanism, or maybe the rattlesnake was
Speaker 1: doing it and a lot of snakes are mimicking it.
Speaker 1: I genuinely don't know the answer to that um that
Speaker 1: one is. I think it's still a question that's up
Speaker 1: in the air, though papers may have been published recently
Speaker 1: that have some sort of clue or idea. I got
Speaker 1: to renew my subscription to Snakes monthly to uh to
Speaker 1: find out. But yeah, they also they will also in
Speaker 1: their threat display, they will release a foul smell from
Speaker 1: their anal glands, and they will hiss. And so they
Speaker 1: are like a cat, a skunk, and a snake all
Speaker 1: in one wonderful little package. Its Latin name is oh boy,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna butcher this, but let's give it a try.
Speaker 1: It agg kiss trodon piscivorus piscivorus, Yes kisstrodon piscivorus flows
Speaker 1: right off the tongue, which means fish hook fish devour.
Speaker 1: Because these are semi aquatic snakes and they will eat fish.
Speaker 1: They have even been known to sometimes eat very small
Speaker 1: baby alligators. They don't actually so even though they eat fish,
Speaker 1: they are really bad at fishing like underwater. They're not
Speaker 1: like cruising underwater getting all the fish. They actually rely
Speaker 1: on dry sea reasons where water will dry up and
Speaker 1: fish or tadpoles or amphibians will get stranded in these
Speaker 1: small puddles and then just have a fun little buffet. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And you know a lot of times people get the
Speaker 1: cotton mouths mixed up with water snakes, who are also
Speaker 1: aquatic snakes, but you know, they both be enjoyed because
Speaker 1: cotton mouths are my favorite venomous snakes. They're absolutely gorgeous
Speaker 1: to me. Uh, you know, the black and gold of
Speaker 1: their bodies, just like the Saints, let's go New Orleans.
Speaker 1: But you know they on top of that, you know,
Speaker 1: they're pretty sassy little ones too, And I just I
Speaker 1: cherished them. They are beautiful. They are truly gorgeous. I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously they you don't want to cuddle these they are venomous, uh,
Speaker 1: and you don't want to get bitten. But they have
Speaker 1: kind of a sweet personality when it comes to their young.
Speaker 1: So there are some observations of female cotton mouths protecting
Speaker 1: their newly born litters and they give live birth, so
Speaker 1: like and I believe that's also the case for other
Speaker 1: rattlesnakes and other pit vipers. They don't lay eggs. They
Speaker 1: give birth to live young, and so they will have
Speaker 1: these sweet little babies that they want to protect. Not
Speaker 1: typically what we think of when it comes to reptiles.
Speaker 1: We don't think of them as being active parents. Yeah,
Speaker 1: shouts out to them. I I didn't. I wasn't aware
Speaker 1: of that, you know, And I love that. I love
Speaker 1: that the idea that you know, a lot of a
Speaker 1: lot of reptiles, you know a lot of them. You know,
Speaker 1: they they leave their young to do their thing on
Speaker 1: their own. But some reptiles really do make great caretakers,
Speaker 1: at least in the early days of their offsprings live. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: And at last, we are going to talk about the
Speaker 1: Eastern copper head, which is another pit viper. I think
Speaker 1: these are gorgeous as well. They are a lovely coppery
Speaker 1: color um with brown cross band. I'm probably a little
Speaker 1: biased because I am a red head, and so I
Speaker 1: just feel solidary for every red head out there. These
Speaker 1: are beautiful snakes, uh, And they're they're pretty, they're pretty thick,
Speaker 1: so they are not slender snakes. They they are built
Speaker 1: pretty thick, which I think makes them pretty cute, and
Speaker 1: they live in wooded areas in the southeastern US. They
Speaker 1: are venomous, but they are very shy and will freeze
Speaker 1: upon seeing a threat. And so what's interesting is their
Speaker 1: shyness and their quietness actually makes them a little tricky
Speaker 1: as like big blundering humans. Because they're so well camouflaged.
Speaker 1: We may accidentally step on them or brush against them,
Speaker 1: and they really don't want to bite you, but if
Speaker 1: you touch them or like especially if you like get
Speaker 1: a foot down on there, they're gonna freak out and
Speaker 1: they may bite you. And they do vibrate their tails defensively,
Speaker 1: but without the rattle. They are a little harder to hear,
Speaker 1: uh than rattlesnakes or larger snakes that have a more
Speaker 1: powerful rattling sound. But they are not trying to trick you.
Speaker 1: They are just a little little shy guys and they're
Speaker 1: trying to hide from you, a little little shy spaghettis. Yeah, Well,
Speaker 1: they do operate with some trickery. And what I mean
Speaker 1: by that is, you know, earlier I was talking about
Speaker 1: the biofluorescence of the rattlesnakes tail. Uh. The copper head
Speaker 1: also uses biofluorescence. When they're young, they develop what's called
Speaker 1: a coddle, so it's basically a tail lure that they
Speaker 1: can use to draw in small animals that are interested
Speaker 1: in a worm like looking creature or even a small bird. Uh.
Speaker 1: They'll utilize how lure and draw prey to them when
Speaker 1: they're really really small and really really young. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: love that. I think that's also the case for the
Speaker 1: cotton mouth. They have that little little bright you can
Speaker 1: actually see it. Um. The UV is really interesting. I
Speaker 1: didn't know that, but you can actually see it with
Speaker 1: our own, uh inadequate human eyes. It has a kind
Speaker 1: of light yellow green tip to it when they're young,
Speaker 1: which is interesting. It's almost like training wheels for them
Speaker 1: to be able to lure and pray while they're young
Speaker 1: and experienced. And so if you are a small animal,
Speaker 1: small vertebrate, yes they do try to trick you, but
Speaker 1: for totally in danger, yes, but for h for humans,
Speaker 1: they just want to hide from you. Uh. And in fact,
Speaker 1: they are kind of sweethearts. Sure you don't want to
Speaker 1: mess with them, but when they bite, they tend to
Speaker 1: issue a warning bite where they don't use much venom
Speaker 1: or even a dry bite. I think they are one
Speaker 1: of the pit vipers with the highest rate of dry
Speaker 1: bites because they really don't want to waste their venom
Speaker 1: on you. It seems kind of polite, like pacifist behavior,
Speaker 1: but it is kind of in their own self interest
Speaker 1: because they just they don't want to use up the
Speaker 1: resources of their bite. And because they're so well camouflaged,
Speaker 1: they are really hard to see. That is the defensive
Speaker 1: mechanism they rely on the most. So they're hoping that
Speaker 1: with that combination of camouflage and maybe like a little
Speaker 1: warning bite, that you will just walk away and they
Speaker 1: are not going to have to waste their venom on you. Yep.
Speaker 1: But that being said, even if you do get bidden,
Speaker 1: always assume it's going to be are always assume it
Speaker 1: is a venoma one. And actually a good way to
Speaker 1: tell if you're if you experience a dry bite or
Speaker 1: not is it should start hurting pretty immediately, you know,
Speaker 1: more than like an ouch. You know. So if you
Speaker 1: get bitten by a snake and you experience any sort
Speaker 1: of burning pain or any sort of swelling, you got venomated.
Speaker 1: So yeah, but you know, I love that cotton mounts
Speaker 1: and copper heads they have this really nice because they're
Speaker 1: very closely related snakes, they have this very flat top
Speaker 1: to their head and it it almost looks like you
Speaker 1: could put a little tiny plate on their head and
Speaker 1: like a little tiny or maybe a tiny top hat.
Speaker 1: Just wonderful. I I cherish these things so much. Two
Speaker 1: of my favorites. Plus, uh, you know, cop cotton mouths
Speaker 1: or copper heads sorry, also have these little hershey kisses
Speaker 1: along their bodies. Yes, they are. They're adorable in my opinion,
Speaker 1: and so with with that coloration, you know, they kind
Speaker 1: of they really do stand out among the other snakes,
Speaker 1: not amongst the leader. Yes, yeah, it's that the coloration
Speaker 1: that makes them so pretty when they're against like a
Speaker 1: white background, actually really helps them blend in. But yeah, no,
Speaker 1: they are absolutely lovely snakes. You don't want to get
Speaker 1: bitten by them, and you probably won't if you leave
Speaker 1: them alone. But they're very sweet despite they're they're venomous nature.
Speaker 1: Before we go, we have to play around of the
Speaker 1: Mystery Animal sound game. Every week, I play a Mystery
Speaker 1: animal sound and you the listen and you, the guest,
Speaker 1: try to guess who is squawking last week's Mystery Animals
Speaker 1: sound hint was is it a helicopter, a jackhammer, a lawnmower,
Speaker 1: or something from Greek mythology? All right, I'm excited. I'm
Speaker 1: ready to go. So Alexei, who do you think is
Speaker 1: making that sound? Okay? So what were my options? Again?
Speaker 1: It was something from Greek mythology? Yes, is it a helicopter,
Speaker 1: a jackhammer, a lawnmower, or something from Greek mythology? Oh
Speaker 1: my god, because my my instinct based on yeah, just
Speaker 1: just going off of my gut, I want to say
Speaker 1: it's it's like a cotton mouth tail rattling, but it
Speaker 1: also still could be it could be a jackhammer, but
Speaker 1: the way it ended didn't quite sound like a jackhammer. Um,
Speaker 1: could I get that one more time? I get that
Speaker 1: in my ear. Maybe it's a cotton mouth snake operating
Speaker 1: a jackhammer. Its tail is sprung like tiggers. U. I.
Speaker 1: The way it ended didn't sound quite like a jackhammer,
Speaker 1: but it sounded like one in the middle. But I'm
Speaker 1: I think I'm still gonna go with jackhammer. Like something
Speaker 1: about that, I like, I want to choose the thing
Speaker 1: that doesn't feel right, So jackhammer, jackhammer, it is, well,
Speaker 1: it is actually something from Greek mythology. It is the
Speaker 1: Hercules beetles wings beating. What. Yeah, so that's awesome, all right.
Speaker 1: So it sounds like a lawnmower to me. If I
Speaker 1: heard this, I would not think it was coming from
Speaker 1: a massive insect. The Hercules beetle is a species of
Speaker 1: radnoceros beetle and is found in Central and South America.
Speaker 1: It's one of the biggest flying insects in the world.
Speaker 1: It has these hard yellow exoskeletal plates over its wings,
Speaker 1: and the males have these two massive horns. One comes
Speaker 1: from its head, the other comes from its frontal thorax,
Speaker 1: and they use these horns in combat with other males
Speaker 1: to try and compete for mates. And when they fly
Speaker 1: they sound like little jackhammers buzzing through the air. That's
Speaker 1: so cool. Something that's really interesting about large beetles like
Speaker 1: that is a lot of them spend the majority of
Speaker 1: their lifespan as a grub. I think some of those
Speaker 1: larger beetles in South America could spin up to about
Speaker 1: three years as a grub or in their larval state,
Speaker 1: and then they only spend about some of them only
Speaker 1: a hundred days as adults, you know. So that that
Speaker 1: form that we're familiar with, that hercules beetle and like
Speaker 1: those very large ones, that's actually the shortest part of
Speaker 1: their lifespan, which is pretty wild to imagine. And they're
Speaker 1: absolutely massive larva as well, Like it'll cover your entire hand.
Speaker 1: It's really cool. Yeah, I've been bitten by smaller grubs,
Speaker 1: and I couldn't imagine getting bitten by that. I could
Speaker 1: imagine carrying it around in a little baby bjorn though,
Speaker 1: like this is my baby, don't insult us. Yeah. They
Speaker 1: pulled back the hood of the and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: it's this big, beautiful grub looking at Yes, So onto
Speaker 1: this week's mystery animal sound. The hint is if you
Speaker 1: hear this coming from the walls, you're in a heap
Speaker 1: of trouble, all right. Could you hear those little little
Speaker 1: tapping sounds? Yeah? I don't know what. What is that?
Speaker 1: A ghost? Yeah? It's the kids beneath the stairs. Uh
Speaker 1: is it a borrowers? It? That is such a good guess.
Speaker 1: I remember I remember reading The Borrowers as a kid,
Speaker 1: and I just loved leaving out little things for them
Speaker 1: like little buttons. Little. Yeah. I did in the movie
Speaker 1: have Nathan Lane in it. It did. That was a
Speaker 1: terrible movie. I just remember. I remember from that movie
Speaker 1: they had one of the little borrowers get like stuck
Speaker 1: in like a dog turd, and it was horrifying. It
Speaker 1: was horrifying. Did not Oh my god, it off as
Speaker 1: a joke, but for like a ten year old that
Speaker 1: was just like a nightmare, a total night In real life,
Speaker 1: that person would be incredibly sick for long time after that.
Speaker 1: These little bar wars getting sepsis from dog poop horrified.
Speaker 1: The tiniest doctor possible. Yes, there's a a cuter version
Speaker 1: of movie adaptation is like the Secret World of Ariettie.
Speaker 1: I think the Muzaki movie. That one's cute. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: haven't seen that one, but all the art for it
Speaker 1: looks really very it's very cute, much cuter than the
Speaker 1: Nathan Line version. Maybe you have a borrowers in the wall.
Speaker 1: Let's hope it's that, yeah, instead of whatever else that
Speaker 1: could be. You will find out the answer next week
Speaker 1: next Wednesday for the next episode of Creature feature Alexei,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining me today. Where can
Speaker 1: people find you? Yeah. So you can find I'm me
Speaker 1: online on Twitter at al Hindify that's at a L
Speaker 1: H G N D I I F y or if
Speaker 1: you like the sound of my voice, you can check
Speaker 1: me out on the We out Here podcast where my
Speaker 1: co host Allison and I speak to scientists in naturalists
Speaker 1: about you know, what they do in science and nature.
Speaker 1: But it's primarily a storytelling based podcast where people there
Speaker 1: come on tell their stories. Uh, and we all have
Speaker 1: a good laugh and enjoy ourselves. And if you're a
Speaker 1: person who has a story to tell of science and nature,
Speaker 1: hit me up on Twitter or anywhere else. I love
Speaker 1: storytelling and I love nature, so it's a wonderful podcast.
Speaker 1: Do check that out. Uh. And you can find the
Speaker 1: podcast on the internet at Creature feature Pot on Instagram
Speaker 1: at creature feak pot on Twitter. That's f teeth head
Speaker 1: is something very different. And if you think you know
Speaker 1: the answer to this week's mystery animal sound game, write
Speaker 1: to me at Creature Feature Pod at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening. If you like the show.
Speaker 1: When you leave a writing interview, I read them all.
Speaker 1: They make my day. I print them out, I paper
Speaker 1: the walls with them. Uh. And thank you so much
Speaker 1: to the Space Classics for their super awesome song Exo
Speaker 1: Alumina Creature features a production of I heart Radio. For
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Speaker 1: Wherever you listen to your favorite shows. See you next Wednesday.