Endless Ocean

Rattlesnakes P3

Rattlesnakes are divided into two groups. Most are part of the Crotalus (Crow-TAL-luss) group, which includes the larger rattlers with broad heads. The snakes, in the other group, are called the Sistrurus (Siss-TRUE-rus), which are smaller, with narrower heads. They have 9 larger scales on their head.

The long and narrow shape of the body means that everything inside the body must be long and narrow too. A rattlesnake's stomach is very long , and so is everything else. Some people think that rattlesnakes are almost tail. But the tail is really only a small part. The body is much bigger.

Rattlesnake bodies are wider in the middle than the bodies of most other snakes. This allows them to eat larger prey. They have large stomachs to hold the prey they catch.

Some rattlesnakes grow to be very long--more than 6 feet long or 1.8 meters. They might weigh up to 15 pounds or 6.8 kilograms. However, most of them are smaller than that.

A rattlesnake has only one lung--but what a lung! It stretches almost 3/4 of the total body length. If you had a long like that, it would stretch from your neck down to your knees!

The rattle at the end of the tail is used to give warnings to other animals and to humans. When a rattlesnake shakes its rattle, it is saying "Go away or I may bite you!" It can shake the rattle very fast up to 50 times a second. The sound it makes is a loud buzz.

Rattlesnakes have wonderful skeletons, with hundreds of bones in them. A long back-bone runs down the center of the back, and there are many curved ribs attached to it. The skeleton is both strong and flexible. The snake can easily bend it into a round coil.

The skin of a rattlesnake is very important in the life of the snake. Down on the ground, there are plenty of rocks and thorns and other things that can scrape and cut the body of the rattler. So its skin has to be tough on the outside to protect the body. At the same time, the skin has to be flexible enough to allow the snake to move freely.

Rattlesnakes have three layers of skin. The bottom layer is the thickest, and has the true color of the skin. The middle layer is thick and tough for protection. From time to time, the top layer peels off.

The middle layer of skin is folded in many places to make it thicker. The thickest parts are called the scales of the rattler. There are thousands of scales, and they form a coat of armor that protects the body very well. The scales overlap, so they can slide back and forth a little and allow the snake to move.

As the snake slithers along on the ground, the outer layer of skin gets scratched and cut by rocks and other hard objects. About twice a year, the outer layer peels off.

A rattlesnake keeps growing as long as it lives. This is another reason why it must shed its outer layer of skin again and again. As it grows, it needs a larger skin--just as you need larger clothes when you get too big for your old clothes.

To shed the outer layer of skin, a rattlesnake starts rubbing its head against something hard. The skin begins to peel away, and the snake can wiggle out of it.

As the outer layer of skin comes off, it turns inside out. Underneath the old outer lay, a new and shiny outer layer has already grown. This makes the rattler look like a new snake. The scales on a rattlesnake's back are colored. The colors are arranged to form beautiful patterns. Every rattlesnake sub-species has its own pattern--so the easiest way to tell one type from another is too look at the patterns on their backs.