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Thursday, October 20, 2011

A rattlesnake helper?

Priscilla, Lois, and Arli spent their pregnancy together at a rookery from May through August, 2010. Arli moved away to a private nest shortly before giving birth.
DSC_3178 Priscilla & House, 1 September 2010

On 30 August 2010 we observed Priscilla (pregnant adult female) discouraging House (neonate / newborn) from potential exposure to a human predator. Because Priscilla was pregnant at this time, House had a different mother. To our knowledge, this is the first observation of helping - where an animal cares for another's offspring - in a snake. Perhaps this is why some female rattlesnakes aggregate during gestation and remain together after giving birth.

panel1 15:27 Priscilla (adult female) and House (neonate) are at rest in a shaded rock shelter.

panel2 15:28 House moves restlessly in cover and then begins to move toward open ground.

panel3 15:29 Priscilla swiftly confronts House before he wanders away from cover; her posture is unusually rigid.

panel4 15:31 House stops, turns around, and coils in cover. Priscilla's head returns to her coils.

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