[Update February 28, 2012: Thanks to a most-excellent comment by Bryan Hughes, I now know that this is a post about aggression between two male rattlesnakes, not a male and female snake mating.]
A few weeks ago some friends and I camped overnight in Crystal Cove’s Lower Moro Campground. The morning was beautifully foggy, and I took a bunch of flower closeups while the dew was still around. But the sun eventually burned through the fog, and we packed up and headed for home.
As I was hiking I heard some rustling in the grass next to me beside the trail. Accustomed to hunting for lizards, I turned and looked to see what it was. Lizard? Bird? Rodent?
Rattlesnake.
No, wait.
Two rattlesnakes.
About that time my legs decided that they really didn’t like being about two feet from two writhing rattlesnakes, so my hiking partners and I quickly moved away. But luckily for us, the snakes were in the throes of passion, and didn’t seem to notice us at all. So, I pulled out my camera and started snapping.
My favorite shot of the bunch is this one:
There the two have just picked themselves up after reaching up vertically and coiling around each other so much that they fell over. To see the entire sequence of them coiling, here’s a five-image composite:
Shortly after that, however, either they were done or they noticed us. One of them slithered off into the bushes, while the other almost seemed to stand guard, staring out at us with tongue flicking.
We took the hint and started to move off, and the guard snake did the same, giving us a nice rattle as it crawled into the brush.
It was easily one of the most exciting animal encounters I’ve had while hiking or backpacking. They were incredibly fast as they coiled and writhed, and their ritual was entrancingly beautiful.
Continue reading Rattlesnake mating: frantic sensuality in the grass