It’s hiss-tory in the making.
Thousands of pregnant rattlesnakes are coiling up together in a Colorado “mega-den” — and a live stream is capturing every second of the rarely seen slice of life.
The California Polytechnic State University launched the “RattleCam” Tuesday at the remote, undisclosed site in northern Colorado, where as many as 2,000 rattlesnakes are slithering and crawling on top of one another.
“This is a big, big den for rattlesnakes. This is one of the biggest ones we know of,” Emily Taylor, a Cal Poly biology professor leading the Project RattleCam research, said Tuesday.
While it’s not the only one in existence, the livestream offers a rare glimpse into the lives of serpents — all of which are expectant mothers.
This time of year, only pregnant female snakes are holed up in the high-elevation den. Males and non-pregnant females leave for the nearby lower country in the spring after taking refuge in the den for the winter.
The babies are expected to be born in August — an exhilarating moment researchers hope to capture on tape. Unlike nearly all other reptiles, they do not hatch from eggs but are born alive.
They will stay in the den with their mother until the male snakes return in September for hibernation, which will mark the end of the livestream until next spring.
Until then, viewers can enjoy watching the slippery mamas basking, interacting and even cuddling with one another in the Colorado sun.
According to Cal Poly, viewers can also expect to watch rare events like predators attempting to infiltrate the den, as well as thirsty snakes drinking raindrops off their own coiled bodies.
For the truly snake-obsessed, the researchers re-activated a camera for the third summer at a smaller rattlesnake den in California.
“This livestream allows us to collect data on wild rattlesnakes without disturbing them, facilitating unbiased scientific discovery,” Taylor said.
“But even more important is that members of the public can watch wild rattlesnakes behaving as they naturally do, helping to combat the biased imagery we see on television shows of rattling, defensive and stressed snakes interacting with people who are provoking them.”
The livestream will also help show that rattlesnakes have been handed down an undeserved reputation for being creepy and threatening, according to Taylor.
The webcam will show that they’re social animals that care for their babies and one another better than some of our favorite furry animals do.
“I try to speak up for the underdog and to show people that rattlesnakes have this other side that’s really worthy of our admiration,” said Taylor.
With Post wires
