|
Many people think that when colubrids do this that they are mimicking rattlesnakes. I don't buy this for many reasons. Colubrids have been around much longer than pit vipers and there is no way to prove it but I suspect they were doing this long before pit vipers evolved. Colubrids from parts of the world where there are no rattlesnakes do this. I have never noted any snake paying attention to what another snake is doing let alone mimicking it. I believe that rattling was just something that snakes developed to warn bigger grazing animals of their presence so maybe it would spook them off from stepping on them and rattlesnakes just evolved it further by adding the buttons. Many colubrids rattle in dry leaves or against something to make a louder noise. Many others just do it so fast that they make sonic cracks like popping a whip. Pituophis for example can make quite a loud rattle by just cracking back and forth really fast against nothing but air. All of this has also given rise to the myth that some rattlesnakes have cross bred with ratsnakes and developed rattle-less rattlesnakes. Gophersnakes, pinesnakes and bullsnakes (pitupophis) are commonly misIDed as such a crossbreed and killed.
|
