Hundreds of wild rattlesnakes congregated in a “mega-den” in northern Colorado, as seen in livestream footage captured by Project RattleCam, a California-based community science project.
The reptiles are drawn to the “rare habitat” because of geological features that provide them “with hiding places and shelter from the elements,” a press statement from California Polytechnic State University, one of the project’s sponsors, detailed.
A “high-tech, solar-powered camera system” allows members of the public to tune in and “watch wild rattlesnakes behaving as they naturally do,” project lead Emily Taylor said.
Taylor added that she hopes this will “combat the biased imagery we see on television shows of rattling, defensive, and stressed snakes interacting with people who are provoking them.”
This footage released by Project RattleCam shows the snakes slithering around the den, at the undisclosed location. They are seen slithering over each other, shedding and yawning. Credit: Project RattleCam via Storyful
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