Rattlesnakes are actually good creatures. The rattle evolved (only once) as a way to provide a warning so that they wouldn't have to waste venom. Venom is expensive to produce. There is an African American folktale, How The Snake Got His Rattle, which is in a book, Black Folktales, by Julius Lester. The interesting thing is this particul…
Rattlesnakes are actually good creatures. The rattle evolved (only once) as a way to provide a warning so that they wouldn't have to waste venom. Venom is expensive to produce. There is an African American folktale, How The Snake Got His Rattle, which is in a book, Black Folktales, by Julius Lester. The interesting thing is this particular folktale shows an understanding of why the rattle evolved, although in the book, the snake gets his venom first, through the intervention of God, in an effort to prevent the other animals from stepping on the snake all the time. But then, the snake is killing the other animals all over the place, and one of them goes up to God, who's sitting in his rocking chair with his cigar, which Mrs. God hates, and explains the situation, and how bad it is. At this point, God comes up with the rattle, and the problems cease.
A wonderful book devoted to rattlesnakes, with no deus ex machina intervention, or anything close: Landscape with Reptile: Rattlesnakes in an Urban World, by Thomas Palmer. Beautifully written series of essays on different aspects of rattlesnakes.
Rattlesnakes are actually good creatures. The rattle evolved (only once) as a way to provide a warning so that they wouldn't have to waste venom. Venom is expensive to produce. There is an African American folktale, How The Snake Got His Rattle, which is in a book, Black Folktales, by Julius Lester. The interesting thing is this particular folktale shows an understanding of why the rattle evolved, although in the book, the snake gets his venom first, through the intervention of God, in an effort to prevent the other animals from stepping on the snake all the time. But then, the snake is killing the other animals all over the place, and one of them goes up to God, who's sitting in his rocking chair with his cigar, which Mrs. God hates, and explains the situation, and how bad it is. At this point, God comes up with the rattle, and the problems cease.
A wonderful book devoted to rattlesnakes, with no deus ex machina intervention, or anything close: Landscape with Reptile: Rattlesnakes in an Urban World, by Thomas Palmer. Beautifully written series of essays on different aspects of rattlesnakes.