Timber Rattlesnake Crotalus horridus By:Kadija  Scientific Classification: Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Reptilia Order: Squamata Family: Viperdae Genus: Crotalus Species: horridus

Natural History

Animals are multi-cellular organisms that make up the Kingdom Animalia. One group of animals are the reptiles. Reptiles did not appear until three hundred million years ago. They were the prehistoric kings of beasts. Some reptiles are crocodiles, alligators, and snakes. Snakes are vertebrates. Vertebrates are animals with backbones. Some snakes are poisonous, like rattlesnakes. Rattlesnakes have a rattle at the end of the tail to warn people or predators.

The timber rattlesnake was extirpated in Maine in the 1860’s, about 142 years ago, and was extirpated in Rhode Island in the 1970’s, about 32 years ago. For a long time, timber rattlesnakes helped our ecosystem because they get rid of some small mammals.

The timber rattlesnake’s camouflage helps it catch its prey, and that’s what makes a timber rattlesnake unique. These snakes have started to disappear and now they are about to be extinct. It is the people who make them extinct, by destroying their habitat.

The timber rattlesnake is active from April to mid-October . They barely eat in the spring because they give birth during that time.

These are other reasons why they are unique or different from other snakes. They get tired during mid-May and they don’t like to get out of their dens because they mate and reproduce. The timber rattlesnake does pretty much the same thing every year.

Habitat

It’s kind of weird that some reptiles can’t live in water and some can. Snakes can’t live in water all the time, so that means some snakes are amphibians. The timber rattlesnakes lives in rocky hills and wilderness at elevations below 5,000 feet, because that’s where they hide and reproduce. They also hibernate in groups.

They only live in the western hemisphere, from southern Canada to northern Argentina. In any country in the western hemisphere the timber rattlesnake lives mostly in the northern parts. We think there are many timber rattlesnakes in the US, but they are all extirpated, extinct, and threatened in so many states but it is not a species of concern. In Maine, Rhode Island, Ohio, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and many more states they are extirpated and endangered. These are the northern states.

In the south, it is much different because timber rattlesnakes live in swampy areas like ponds. Some snakes are camouflaged with the tall greenish-yellow grass. If any small mammals lived in rocky hills it would become a new habitat for the timber rattlesnake. These vertebrates like to be left alone in quiet places because they wouldn’t want to use their rattle for defense.

If you had a rattle what would you use it for? You use it for defense?

Present Status

The present status of the timber rattlesnake is extirpated in Maine. 

Physical Description

It’s very interesting that snakes have backbones. I thought it was an invertebrate, an animal without a backbone. We probably all think that snakes are really creepy, that they slither and they are full of jelly. But they are vertebrates even without legs, and they defend themselves really well. They have fangs, special organs and have great hearing. Humans mistake the timber rattlesnake because they can look like other snakes. The timber rattlesnake can look like a northern pacific rattlesnake. The color on a timber rattlesnake’s skin is yellow, pink, brown, and gray.

Did you know that male timber rattlesnakes weighs two pounds? Females are also quite impressive- they weigh 1.3 pounds. Males are about forty-three inches long. Females are thirty-eight inches long.

If you look at the picture, you can see that there are dark stripes behind the eye- about twenty-five rows of it. It is very attractive. The head is slightly bigger than the neck and it is a triangular shape.

Diet and Feeding Habits

All snakes are carnivores. They eat animals that are herbivores and are also a consumers to them. The timber rattlesnake eats a lot of small mammals like rats, squirrels, gophers, rabbits, frogs, birds, fish, lizards, chipmunks, snails, and even other snakes. They can’t eat all these animals at once, and they don’t get hungry a lot because they are cold-blooded animals. Birds often get killed by snakes but snakes feed on chipmunks the most.

Did you know that the timber rattlesnakes swallow the animal as a whole after they bite and kill the animal? They also can eat something bigger than their body. The jaw of a timber rattlesnake are specialized so it could eat its prey. When the timber rattlesnake yawns the jawbone goes back to place.

When they eat small mammals they help the environment. You probably hate snakes but they help our ecosystem. If they don’t eat small mammals there will be a lot of them around.

Sometimes they camouflage themselves in brush that looks like their skins.  Timber rattlesnakes hide in the brush when they see a lot of people and they don’t make a lot of noise.  Sometimes people step on them without noticing, and they might get bitten.  Camouflage helps the timber rattlesnake hunt, too.  The prey doesn’t know they’re coming. That is one method of hunting for them. Humans have a method of eating food, too. We buy the food, then pick the food up, and put it in our mouth.

How would you feel if you had to hide to get your food?

Causes of Endangerment

One way timber rattlesnakes get endangered is because of the losses of wetland. Some timber rattlesnakes live in the southern states where there is swampy areas and that is a huge deal for them because more than fifty percent of the world’s wetlands are gone.

So many animals are endangered like a timber rattlesnake because of people.  We litter for example. If we litter plastics, birds as well as other animals will chew on it or choke on it and they would eventually die.

How would you feel if you lost something special from earth? Would it be like losing an animal from earth? I think it would be like losing an animal from earth because when it is on earth we don’t treat it as we’re supposed to. But when it is off earth we would like to see it that animal again.

Timber rattlesnakes die because cars run over them in the late summers when they sometimes lie on the road.

People have killed timber rattlers because they thought it would bite them. Timber rattlesnakes only fight for defense when somebody attacks them, but some people take it as if they will harm them for no reason. People have stepped on them without noticing because they can camouflage themselves in tall grasses and they don’t make a lot of noise compared to people.

Personal Essay

How does diversity strengthen an ecosystem?
Diversity can strengthen an ecosystem in many different ways. One way is by leaving the people and animal’s habitat alone. What I mean by this, is that instead of hurting or torturing an animal we should help one.

Cleaning the environment is another way of strengthening an ecosystem because picking up trash will help the animals and people will have a good smelling air to breathe in and out.

In an ecosystem there are producers, decomposers, consumers, predators, and prey. They all have a role to do.  A predator eats a prey, and the prey eats producers that are green plants.  They grow from the energy given from the sun.  When consumers are done eating the producer, they eventually die and decomposers come in and break down waste materials and dead organisms. The producer starts to grow again where the consumer is dead. That is one way diversity strengthens an ecosystem.

In an ecosystem there is also a food chain.  A food chain is the way in which energy is transferred through a community.  For example, dog eats a cat, the cat eats a mouse, etc. That is another way of strengthening an ecosystem.

Bibliography

1. Timber Rattlesnake.  www.westerville.k12.oh.us/ZOO/timberat/pages/TIMRAT1.htm. (March 19,2003)

2. Correct.  www.geocities.com/Baja/Outback/3333/buzz.html. (March19,2003)

3.Timber Rattlesnake. October 17, 2002. www.animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/crotalus/c._horridus$narrative.html. (March 17, 2003)

4. Timber Rattlesnake.  www. dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/er/factsheets/herps/timber.htm. (March 28, 2003)

5. Snakes.  www.icehouse.net/treehug/snakes.htm. (March 28, 2003)