Snake-chasing doesn't rattle these researchers

ST. LOUIS - Paco has a killer poker face.

The young timber rattlesnake, coiled and camouflaged beside a log in Washington University's Tyson Research Center near Eureka, Mo., offers a steely stare. He doesn't give up his position with a rattle or a tongue flicker. And he can't blink.

Washington University researcher Wayne Drda uses an antenna to locate a transponder embedded in the skin of Paco, a timber rattlesnake living in Tyson Research Center in Eureka.

For sheer cold-blooded indifference, rattlesnakes are unrivaled. They can remain motionless for days. But track 28 of the venomous pit vipers for six years, as Washington University researchers have, and the snakes reveal slightly more flamboyant behavior.

They swim. They climb trees. Some males travel more than six miles a year in search of mates. One snake caught rainwater in its funnel-shaped coil and drank from its own cup.

The snakes' paths suggest they can live in more than just forested areas - something that offers hope to biologists who have seen the rattlers' population decline over the last century. The snakes seem to prefer habitat ''edges,'' the boundary zones between a forest and a road or a crop field.

''Edges aren't all that bad,'' said Corey Anderson, a doctoral student in biology. ''Timber rattlesnakes are thought of as these sensitive, secret creatures.

•	Snake-chasing doesn't rattle these researchers Don't tread on them: Scientists get up close and personal with pit vipers to learn more about their habits and habitats Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, Monday, June 20, 2005 Byline: Eric Hand, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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