#prairie rattlesnakes

[antiqueanimals]

A Closer Look at Grasslands. Written by Catherine Horton. Illustrated by Maurice Wilson. 1979.

#reptiles #snakes #rattlesnakes #prairie rattlesnakes #Maurice Wilson

[fatehbaz]

At the intersection of Ohio, Michigan and Indiana, the corn monoculture melts away to reveal green rolling hills and deep gorges. The lush forest is pockmarked by steep-banked ponds, carved out by retreating glaciers 10,000 years ago. Standing waist-deep in a forest pool, Megan Seymour scans the shrubby banks with binoculars. A slight change in colour and texture spotted in the tangled buttonbush swamp reveals her quarry: a thick, glossy, copperbelly water snake (Nerodia erythrogaster neglecta). [...]

The copperbelly water snake – named for its tangerine-orange underside – inhabited what was one of the largest wetland areas in North America.

Roughly the size of Connecticut and stretching from Fort Wayne in Indiana across much of north-west Ohio, the Great Black Swamp was home to elk, wolves, mountain lions and black bears.

In the mid-19th century, farmers began to clear the trees and drain the swamp to access the fertile soil hidden beneath the water. In just five decades, the Great Black Swamp was dry.

Today, the copperbelly water snake lays claim to just 50 sq km (20 sq miles) of remnant swamp forest in the tri-state area – slightly smaller than Manhattan Island.

Though the exact number of the reptiles is not known, experts estimate that fewer than 100 individuals, possibly as few as 40, remain.

“I think they will be gone within 20 years,” says [...] a land steward with the Nature Conservancy [...]. He believes saving the copperbelly water snake is essential to the region’s ecology because it is “an umbrella species” [...] for dozens of other declining species that rely on the swamp forest, including the rare bobolink blackbird and the checkerspot butterfly. When Seymour began searching for copperbelly water snakes in spring 2021, no one had seen one alive in the wild in almost three years. She spent more than 180 hours combing through the wetlands historically inhabited by the species but found none. [...]

---

All content above, images, caption, and text published by: Ryan Wagner. “‘They aren’t mean and they aren’t trying to get you’: saving the copperbelly water snake.” The Guardian. 14 February 2023. [All photos published with this story were also taken by Ryan Wagner. Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks added by me.]

For reference, here’s the distribution range of the copperbelly water snake:

And here, what was once the Great Black Swamp:

Snake, endemic species unique to Great Lakes region and flooded prairies of the “Prairie Peninsula,” nearly extinct.

#extinction #endemic species #great lakes #prairie #go check out the distribution map for the Kirtlands snake and see how it also is endemic to limited wetlands in Illinois Indiana and Ohio #Kirtlands snake is a crayfish specialist that lives in crustacean burrow systems in flooded prairies #also the eastern massasauga aka the miniature swamp rattlesnake also uses crayfish burrows and limited to wetlands of great lakes region

[ghostoffuturespast]

1 September 2023 - Friday Field Notes

Made a new friend.

Ambush bug, a sit and wait predator, they camouflage on flowers and wait for other unsuspecting insects to land.

That is in fact two rattlensakes.

Yes, I missed you boogers too.

They grow up so fast, it was about a month. The barn swallows all fledged while I was away. They'll probably be around for a bit longer before officially leaving the nest.

Shit birds.

Two accurate memes of myself and...

CW: dead animal below cut

Someone didn't finish their breakfast. Whoever it was, clearly a picky eater.

#nature #friday field notes #little ghost on the prairie #praying mantis #ambush bug #alpaca #goats #prairie #prairie rattlesnake #barn swallows #cw: dead animal

[artymcartist]

Its my last 20ish days of high school and I am fighting to pass rn so Ill probably be off n on with just school doodles

Now Im nervous about college, I don't know if I wanna do it anymore. I could honestly happily live a mediocre life just doodling shit on the internet and working some random job

But, I've already been accepted in and working in automation would be amazing, I'm just worried about everything going wrong and its making me shut down WAHFSBBS

Sorry, rant over, here's an assignment I finished last night

#rant #food web #ecology #prairie dog #pronghorn #bighorn sheep #bison #black footed ferret #coyote #bobcat #fox #rattlesnake

[craftingcreatures]

So upset right now.

Two of the prairie rattlesnakes were being cute - one was all coiled up, and the other was kind of loosely draped over him but with his head SQUARELY placed on top of the first snake's head, like a pair of noodly fennec foxes.

And then I RUINED it by trying to take a picture and the snake on top decided that was SCARY and went into strike pose.

Oh well. C'est la snek. Have a very blurry picture I took after the fact.

#snake #rattlesnake #prairie rattlesnake #Crotalus viridis #reptile

[vyva-melinkolya]

Prairie Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis)

southern Wyoming (via INaturalist)

#snakes #rattlesnake #herpetology #inaturalist #reptiles #tan #prairie #wyoming

[jonesingforcrafts]

I wanted to see what a Lubbock based cryptid would look like

He’s got the body of a prairie dog, tail of a rattler, horns of a pronghorn, and the wings, legs, and ability to turn it’s head around like an owl.

…Except the head keeps turning and turning long after it shouldn’t…

What should i call him?

#cryptid #cryptidcore #prairie dog #burrowing owl #rattlesnake #pronghorn #Lubbock #west Texas #procreate digital art #procreate

[el-im]

Stand Up - April 30, 1959 (1992) dir. Michael Zinberg

#ql #'in italian--we say he's probably sleeping with the fishes. of course--there's no fishes in las vegas so he's probably sleeping with the #scorpions or sleeping with the cent-centipedes or sleeping with the rattlesnakes...' #'i got the picture' 'coyotes.' #'... prairie dogs. ' #'after six years of therapy he'll be fine.' #'okay doctor JUNG' #'it's the woody allen theory--' oh ymg odifsdf gof #quantum leap

[monster-untamed]

I feel so drawn to therians that share the same habitat as me

Creatures from north and east Asia tigers, racoon dogs, Snow leopards, cranes, monkeys, pandas, elephants, koi, etc

Or creatures from the western prairies hares, mustangs, rattlesnakes, buffalo, armadillos, prairie dogs, hawks, coyotes, mountain lions, etc

Ya’ll are so cool! I want to be friends with all of you!

#therian #otherkin #therianthropy #otherkinity #alterhuman #therian community #nonhuman

[buckarooranch]

Howdy, friends! 🤗

Well, well! It's already day 5 of our advent roundup. Time sure flies—just a couple more sunsets, and it'll be Christmas, quicker than a rattlesnake's strike! As you spied from the last post, we're talkin' tack! We're very excited to rustle up this surprise and hopin' it puts a grin on your face as wide as a prairie horizon.

Naturally, today's gift keeps in line with the Christmas tune. We've created some leg wraps for your trusty steed, matchin' up real nice with that pad you got yesterday. We're downright thrilled to see how your ridin' getup will shine this Christmas!

Now that you know we're in the 'Tack Territory', reckon you can take a guess at the next gift? Gotta round out that set, don't we? So, don't go dawdlin', keep your peepers peeled for tomorrow and crack open a new gift. 🤠🎁

Details:

3 swatches

For Adult/Elder horses

Horse Ranch DLC needed

Website (Free!)

#buckarooranch #sims 4 horse cc #sims 4 horses #sims 4 horse #sims 4 horse ranch #sims 4 #ts4 horse ranch #sims 4 cc #ts4 cc #s4 cc #ts4 horse cc #ts4 mmcc #ts4 mm #ts4 custom content #ts4 christmas #ts4 christmas cc #ts4 legwraps #ts4 horse leg cc #ts4 horse legwraps

[antiqueanimals]

The First Book of Snakes. Written by John Hoke, illustrated by Paul Wenck. 1952.

#reptiles #snakes #rattlesnakes #western diamondback rattlesnakes #eastern diamondback rattlesnakes #prairie rattlesnakes #timber rattlesnakes #pygmy rattlesnakes #sidewinder rattlesnakes #Paul Wenck

[ghostoffuturespast]

11 August 2023 - Friday Field Notes

Saw not one, but two prairie rattlesnakes this week. Despite having the little alarm rattle on the tail, a lot of times the prairie rattlesnake will freeze and hope you just pass on by without noticing them.

Found this Swallowtail Butterfly in the breezeway of my apartment. Something took a bite out of the wings, my guess would be the Barn Swallows that are also nesting in the breezeway. Felt kind of bad for it, but butterflies are also notoriously hard to photograph. Managed to capture the bugger and stick it on my balcony so it could fly off.

And the Barn Swallows hatched! Look at the little frog face babies! Second batch of nestlings in the ice cream tub. Neapolitan flavor.

These Common Checkered Skippers were getting it on when I was trying to set up a game camera. Chain kink, hope they had a safe word.

And this lovely Rocky Mountain Bee Plant. A lot of people say it's kind of smelly, but I didn't notice anything. Very pretty and attracts all sorts of pollinators.

#nature #little ghost on the prairie #friday field notes #prairie rattlesnake #barn swallows #swallowtail butterfly #common checkered skipper #rocky mountain bee plant #practice safe sex y'all #look i have to make the dirty jokes on tumblr because i can't make them at work okay

[headspace-hotel]

If you are in Central or Eastern North America, here's a cool plant for your garden:

Eryngium yuccifolium, Rattlesnake master! It is a tall grass prairie plant. Pollinators can't get enough of this guy.

#gardening #plants #cool plants #native plant gardening

[craftingcreatures]

He göeth up

#snake #rattlesnake #prairie rattlesnake #Crotalus viridis #herpetology #reptiblr #reptile #HE ASCENDS

[sumbluespruce]

Prairie Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis)

7/11/23 phone photo, I tried to lay down but the red ants were on the war path. Now that I am retired I haven’t seen too many.

#nature #reptile #my photograph #photographers on tumblr #Eagle Pass #snake

[cypherdecypher]

Animal of the Day!

Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia)

(Photo by Kirk Swenson)

Conservation Status- Least Concern

Habitat- Western United States; Central America; South America

Size (Weight/Length)- 170 g; 25 cm

Diet- Insects; Small mammals; Small birds

Cool Facts- The ultimate homeowner, the burrowing owl make their homes in abandoned prairie dog dens. Active during the day, these tiny owls eat almost exclusively large insects. When you’re small, it pays to have a defensive mechanism. When bison walk over the owl’s burrow and threaten to cave it in, burrowing owls can mimic a rattlesnake rattle and scare the bison away. Parents are fearless when it comes to threats towards their chicks. Both mom and dad will divebomb coyotes and badgers with their sharp claws and beaks to chase them out of town. 

Rating- 11/10 (Not a thief, opportunistic.)

#Animal of the day #Animals #Birds #Owls #Thursday #November 17 #Burrowing owl #biology #science #conservation #the more you know