Social behavior

Love in the Rocks

On a balmy August night, Melissa and I headed up a canyon near our home. We had explored this area during the day, but recent night visits revealed orb-weaver spiders, rattlesnakes and vinegaroons hunting under cover of night. Though the pine forest air cools off quickly after sunset, rocky canyonsides hold heat a bit longer, …

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Secret Societies: The Social Lives of Reptiles

This article was written by Gordon M. Burghardt, PhD, a member of the ASP Board of Directors. Sociality in reptiles, particularly snakes, has been long misunderstood and even denied. Today it is well-established that many crocodilians have complex courtship rituals and parental care that is far more extensive than that found in many birds and …

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Daryl Plays Catch-up

A Tale of Two Trash Snakes Part 5 Read: A Tale of Two Trash Snakes Part 4 What would a downpour do to Carol’s scent trail? It’s already been a couple of days since she passed over the ground here – did Daryl miss his chance at love, at least for now? The ground is …

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Old Friends

To celebrate ASP’s fifth birthday, we’re sharing five inspiring stories with you — a new one each week through the end of 2019. Read them all here. Late this summer we visited one of our study sites after a near two-year absence. It was nesting season and though we saw fewer snakes than in years …

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Daryl Prowls

A Tale of Two Trash Snakes Part 4 Read: A Tale of Two Trash Snakes Part 3 The day Carol showed up, we checked under the truck bed liner to find Daryl still coiled in a hunting posture under its downhill edge. “There are two lepidus in the yard…” we would say to one another …

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Drinking buddies

We got a chance to visit some old friends recently and made some new ones. Just a gorgeous female Arizona black rattlesnake enjoying a warm spring day.   Adult Arizona black rattlesnakes chilling near their den. How many do you see? (find the answer key at the bottom of this page)   Whipsnakes may have …

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