Western Diamondback Rattlesnake: Iconic and Deadly
Let's examine what makes Western Diamondbacks one of the most deadly snakes in the world.
The western diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox), also known as the Texas diamondback, is found in Texas, Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and possibly Nevada in the US, as well as northern Mexico (Source: IUCN). The species is a generalist, having a highly varied habitat, surviving in biomes like “arid and semi-arid regions, from plains to mountains and from sandy flats to rocky uplands, including desert, grassland, shrubland, woodland, open pine forest, river bottoms, and coastal islands”.
Western diamondbacks may have caused more fatalities than any other snake in the United States, one reason for which may be that they are aggressive and easily excitable. The snakes of the genus Crotalus (rattlesnakes) alone are cause of 44.9% of snakebites in Mexico and 56.3% in the US, including contributions from Crotalus atrox; of the rattlesnake bites in the US, at least, the most frequent culprit could be the western diamondback (Source: NCBI, Table 2).
Their bites have an envenomation rate of 60-80%, meaning, out of a 100 snake bites, venom successfully enters the system of their victim 60-80 times. If left untreated, these bites have a fatality rate of 1 in 5 to 1 in 10 individuals. Treating the bite, however, isn’t easy either because there are a lot of symptoms. The rattlesnake venom is highly complex, with hundreds of components. Coming specifically to the western diamondback, its venom is a potent mix of hemotoxins, myotoxins, and cytotoxins, affecting the cardiovascular system and body muscles. It has long fangs and can inject a large quantity of venom with one strike, with its large venom glands and deposit it deep. Early administration of suitable antivenom is the mainstay of treatment in conjunction with symptomatic treatment, possibly including pain medication, platelet (blood) transfusion, and dialysis (Source: DoveMed).
Although, no major threats have been identified to the survival of the species, their interaction with human beings isn’t pleasant either. Some populations have been decimated by habitat destruction, automobile traffic, and/or direct killing by humans, especially in conjunction with "rattlesnake roundups", also known as rattlesnake rodeos. These are annual events common in the rural Midwest and Southern United States, where the primary attractions are captured wild rattlesnakes, which are used for snake-eating contest, snakeskin products, etc. These events evolved during the 1950s, from the common practice of rattlesnake hunting, dating back to the 1700s, when colonists tracked down and killed these much-feared reptiles to protect human families.
Historically, people have made use of gasoline, sprayed through a water hose or pumped as fumes into snake burrows, to flush rattlesnakes out. It has been outlawed in some states, due to its adverse effects on other wildlife. However, it is still carried out illegally. The western diamondback, in its territory, has always been a hugely favoured snake for roundup hunts, and still remains so in some. It might be, that due to these events “… trying to capture and handle snakes artificially increases the number of snake bites that happen” (Source: PopSci).
Rattlesnake roundups aren’t the only phenomena where the western diamondbacks are displayed. The city of Tucson, Arizona, built a pedestrian bridge (2002) in the shape of a western diamondback. The species has given its name to diners, apartments, stadiums and a Major League Baseball Team (Arizona Diamondback). There is even a successful children’s book entitled ‘Soft Child: How Rattlesnake Got Its Fangs’ (1993) (Source: LiveScience).
Its deadliness, its large size (4 to 6 feet long), the distinctive diamond-shaped pattern decorating the length of its back, the legends attached to it and, without-doubt, the rattle itself, make the western diamondback rattlesnake, exciting, dangerous and indubitably iconic.
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