CWU's Nick Zentner learns from graduate student Adrian Slade at an active rattlesnake den east of Ellensburg, Washington. Filmed on April 26, 2023. The first Adrian video from October 15, 2022 is here: • Rattlesnake Research w...
Hi everyone, Adrian here. Thanks for the awesome comments! I'm a bit shocked by how many views this is getting, so I feel the need to make a bit of a public statement on rattlesnake dens here, something I wish I had done in the video: Rattlesnake dens are incredibly sensitive areas. At the times of year when rattlesnakes aggregate at their dens they are extremely physiologically vulnerable and susceptible to predation (particularly from humans). As demonstrated by this video, they can be very easily stressed by human presence and I strive to minimize that as much as possible, which is why I never handle rattlesnakes at their den and try to only visit each den once or twice per season. While I hope everyone enjoys and learns from this video, I also really hope that the viewers understand that these den sites are best left alone. These dens are essentially havens - the one place where rattlesnakes can be safe before they venture out in search of food, where they may encounter the many hazards of the Anthropocene such as roads, urban areas, wildfires, and ignorant or malicious humans. While I always strive to encourage compassionate coexistence between humans and rattlesnakes, I do not want to encourage people to go looking for rattlesnake dens. I also want to point out that when I make broad generalizations about rattlesnakes, I'm usually referring to Washington's only rattlesnake species, the Northern pacific rattlesnake. This is the case when I say “rattlesnakes rarely get longer than 3 feet" - What I mean is that Northern pacific rattlesnakes* rarely exceed 3 feet in length. Feel free to contact me on my instagram page @adrianslade for any questions you may have about snakes! -Adrian
No worries from this guy. Im no where near these lovelies. I being a northwest Oregon dweller the only havens I’ll be disturbing are the yellow jackets. Only if they take up residence in my ole pickup
Question for you Adrian... What can we look for to AVOID accidently finding snakes like these? Types of terrains characteristics, places where these snakes might like to rest, etc. As beautiful as they are, I would rather not come up on one unexpectedly.
Hi Adrian! You look so happy what you’re doing love it 💗 just please please please be careful turning you’re back from them within reach of sneaking up on you! 😊
@@stuartwray6175 That natural selection thing at work over eons. Birds that nest on the Alaskan tundra have developed eggs that are perfectly camouflaged. All by random chance ( survival rates ). Such an elegant and wonderful reality!
Adrian is so well spoken and so informative ! I appreciate her ability to use a few words to speak a chapters' worth of knowledge regarding those gorgeous rattlesnakes. Please invite her back to speak on whatever she has knowledge of !
Oh Nick, thank you and Adrian for this wonderful show!! So glad you had Adrian on again! She’s such an amazing person and we learned so much. I hope we can see her again.
One rattlesnake says to another, " Oh no, she's back and she brought a friend!" LOL Thanks Nick for bringing us on a visit with Ms. Slade at a nice sage covered rock field snake den. Awesome visit!
Wonderful video. Totally unexpected but very welcome. Adrian imparts her knowledge of the snakes very clearly and informatively. She shows her enthusiasm and love of them. Thanks Nick for sharing your adventures with us. 🐻
Thanks to both of you for this sweet video. What a great dialogue on love of rattlesnakes and sagebrush steppe. The sagebrush sea needs more allies like you. Thank you!
Adrian, you do have a way with rattlesnakes. Pretty amazing. Stunning day. Happy people. Mostly happy snakes. What a treat to be along on your research. Thank you.
I have learned more about rattlesnakes and rattlesnake behavior from this video with Adrian than anywhere else. You might say that the light went on. Her kindness toward rattlesnakes is based on understanding and while I'm not prepared to "love them" I no longer view them with a degree of hostility. Wary respect. Thanks Nick and Adrian for making this youtube video.
Adrian, you certainly are a very brave person in getting close enough to them rattlesnakes. Just the same, be careful. Thanks to Nick and you for sharing this awesome video.
I can’t help it but like the last rattlesnake video with Adrian, I just get all weepy! I can’t help but get emotional over people who love snakes when what I experience on an almost daily basis is people who revile them. I love what you do, Adrian. In fact, I am quite envious. It’s what I should have done. I hope we see you and your friends again. I’ll live vicariously through you, and Nick. And I love that lichen, too! Thank you. 🐍💚
I would be one who reviles them. My dad used to go back and run them over with his car when he passed one on the road down in Florida he hated them so much. I thought that a bit extreme; I don't hurt animals. I just don't like to mix it up with them. I assume they feel the same way. Those animals don't like people messing with them. We destroyed North America pretty much inside of 300 years. We fenced them all in, totally disrupted all animals' migratory patterns, killed off a lot of them etc. One of these days, I really think all the animals will be gone. I dont see all the frogs, toads, turtles and lizards around like I did in the early 70s as a kid. They seem to have all vanished. I think we wiped them all out. Europeans ruined North America pretty quickly. It was a virgin land untouched by idi*ts until they showed up. They managed to cut down every single tree here in Michigan between 1850-1910. Anywhere north of Grand Rapids looked like a wasteland, nothing but ugly tree stumps to the horizon. We used to have nearly every kind of tree here, some nearing or over a thousand years old in huge beautiful forests. They are ALL gone now. I have not been impressed by the European colonization of America a bit. (And I am of Scottish and German decent btw).
WOW can't get enough of this kind of programming. When you hike with Liz I wonder if she knows about her the wild flowers you pass. Spent 35yr working in alpine on Mt Hood and said I would not quit till I knew all of the names of the wild flowers at 68.5 the body gave out and I retired, but could hold my own with any USFS botanist. Still have space in my head to learn about the natural world. Thank you for keeping me nurtured.
Rattlesnakes are really amazing in the manner of their camouflage. You look and look and then, almost by magic, the snake appears. Thank you Adrian for your video and lecture, I can listen to you speak about rattlesnakes for hours on end.
I came to Nick from CPBBD - as a zoologist/botanist with no geology background, I needed to know more about the lithosphere. It's wonderful that Nick adds spice with zoologic and botantic content to the mix when we're lost in the depths of geologic time😕. Adrian conveys great respect, knowledge and sensitivity for this habitat and her subject - best wishes to her on her journey. Big thank you to you both!
It is very encouraging to see several snakes in the area. Wonderful close up filming, and we could hear the rattling. Shrub steppe is amazing habitat! What a treat this is. Thank you Adrian and Nick!
Watching Ms Slade share her love and awe for the nature she observes was so inspiring. It's early in the morning on Portland island in the UK, and this was a beautiful and heart warming way to start my day. I suddenly find myself infected with snake love! You are both the most perfect teachers xxx thank you Ms Slade, cant wait for more geozology xx
What a wonderful experience i have just enjoyed! Sitting in the comfort of my home in Portland, savoring the exertion of scrambling over rocks, listening to meadowlarks, watching up close visits with a gamut of personalities from grumpy to indifferent - all things i can no longer physically do - thank you both, so much, for the effort you have put into this adventure!
Thanks so much, Adrian and Nick. I grew up in Lincoln County with lots of Rattle Snakes around. I learned a lot from Adrian and appreciate both of your efforts. 60 years ago, hiking with about 6 fellow Boy Scouts, we scrambled down a South-facing draw near Republic that had rocks a lot like those in the video. We stopped when we heard a rattle. Looking around I saw about 6 or so snakes sunning themselves. We cautiously exited downhill and left the snakes to themselves. This video brought that memory back and I enjoyed it now and then.
It’s a joy to travel into rattle snake land.. they carry no ticks.,at 8 years 1953.. on camping trips.. visiting my dads cabin.. I always captured a lizard..horny toad.. I had a new pet.. then released.. I loved their home.. and couldn’t bear the thought of relocating to some city..the would lose everything...I rejoice with Mr Nick Zentern and felt like I was 8 years old again with my pretent older sister and brother.. that’s tough Territory..❤️❤️❤️🎺📚✍️👩🎨🖼🏠🌞🦅🐴🌺❤️
The landscapes of Eastern Washington are extraordinarily dramatic, with extreme scales of vertical relief exposed by the shrubby vegetation that bewilder the imagination. A breathtaking country.
Best snake video ever. Two highly intelligent educators, both equally passionate of their respective fields. Adrian is witty and hilarious and just as chill as the rattlesnakes! Wow, I learned so much. Heat sensitive proteins etc... Unreal and lol. THANKS guys
Awesome information. I live in Western Washington and I’ve heard there are rattlesnakes in Eastern Washington but didn’t know we had them like this. So cool.
I'm only halfway through this and it's already one of the most fabulous nature videos I've ever seen. The basalt, the sage, the lichen, the perfect day, the lazy wind turbines, the patient subtly patterned snakes, just waiting for Adrian to find them! Unreal!
Similar to Nick, Adrian's passion for her subject is most evident, and she also clearly revels in enthusiastically sharing the information, and does so in a very engaging way. Another fantastic teacher at CWU.
Adrian is so passionate and compassionate about the snakes! You gotta Love it! Thanks Nick and Adrian for an informative and interesting video about a very misunderstand creature!
I love Adrian’s compassion and enthusiasm for rattlesnakes. I find it so disheartening when people kill rattlesnakes just because they’re rattlesnakes. I spend a lot of time biking, hiking and running in the Boise foothills and love to come across snakes-I always stop to watch them. Even just seeing snake tracks across the trails will make me stop to see if one is nearby. Mostly gopher snakes though but every few years I get lucky enough to see a rattlesnake. Thanks for this video 😊very informative
I had no idea that rattlesnakes were common in Washington until I was invited to go on a fishing trip years ago below lower granite dam. They were everywhere! We saw literally dozens over a 5 day camping trip in July. Having almost stepped on several of them, I was a nervous wreck by the end of the week.
What a treat this was! Nick, you can call yourself an expert snake cinematographer now. This was a wonderful melding of geology and biology. Well done!
Ran across 4 of them in one month on seldom used hiking trails in Southern California. Such amazing creatures. They gave me warnings long before I even saw them. By far the scariest encounters of my life.
Thanks, Adrian. I grew up (1-17) near the desert in Arizona where rattlesnakes never seemed attractive. I've learnt more of them from your two videos with Nick than those years taught me.
Unfortunately wind farms are a blight on the landscape and are the cause of death for many birds, however Adrian is a natural beauty and her knowledge of and love for rattlesnakes and respect for nature is commendable. Thank you Nick.
I loved both the rattlesnake videos. As a geologist in Nevada I come across many rattlesnakes and even dens exploring outcrops and talus. A great and fascinating insight into their behavior. I will definitely take more time to observe their behavior more closely.
This was fascinating, Adrian is an excellent instructor. I learned many things today and will now google the life cycle of the Rattlesnake. Thanks to you both for a fascinating video.
I saw my first rattlesnake today. About 3 feet long with a rattle about 3 inches or so. It was amazing to watch it move along the brush. I got some great pictures!
The one thing that gets my attention faster than a rattlesnake rattle is a biologist interpreting with scientific terms. It's music to my ears and so satisfying! Thanks for the instruction, Adrian, and for your sensitivity to all nature's inhabitants around you. From Linneaus, to Russell, to Darwin, your wonder, excitement, and knowlege brings us all closer to a relationship with our world. Artemisia tridentata perpetua!
I have lived in Southern Arizona all my life. I have encountered gopher snakes and rattlesnakes on multiple occasions. Every time my stress level and fight or flight tendencies kicked in even though I knew intellectually that if I remained calm and made smart moves that my chances were good. I don’t think I could ever be as calm as Adrian. She has nerves of steel, and you can tell loves these animals rather than fearing them. I think they are fascinating also,but my fear is still stronger then my curiosity.
Thanks for making me a little less afraid and a lot more curious about rattlesnakes! I live on the wet side and generally avoid snake country once the temps warm up enough that they might start emerging from their dens, but now I'm a little less afraid of a possible encounter from a respectable distance.
I love rattlesnakes and have deep respect for them, i was rock climbing in Yosemite a while back and was about to place my hand on a crevice when i saw a baby rattlesnake ..i push out and told my friend to bring me down ..because ..SNAKE ! Lol will always remember that
Great work! We need more voices like yours to turn around all of the ignorance and fear. I've spent many years observing timber rattlesnakes along the Mississippi watershed in WI, MN, and IA. The local attitude towards them there can be pretty appalling-hopefully that is slowly changing through the efforts of growing numbers of bright and compassionate people like you.
