Western diamondback rattlesnake

Where does the western diamondback rattlesnake live?

Home: Deserts and scrubland of the southwestern United States and Mexico.

In the wild you find it in: United States, Mexico.

Conservation status from the IUCN: not in danger.

The short profile

Fully grown it measures About 1.2 m long. It weighs about 2 kilograms. On the menu: meat.

The story behind it

A rattlesnake's famous rattle is made of loosely connected, hollow segments of keratin at the tip of its tail, which knock together to make a buzzing warning sound when the snake shakes its tail, and a new segment is added each time it sheds its skin. Western diamondbacks hunt mainly at dawn, dusk and night, using heat-sensing pits on their face to detect the warm bodies of mice and rabbits even in total darkness, then striking with venomous fangs that fold flat against the roof of the mouth when not in use. Despite their fearsome reputation, rattlesnakes usually try to avoid humans and rattle as a warning rather than attacking first. They can go for weeks without eating after a large meal and play an important role controlling rodent populations in their desert habitat.

Find it on the globe

Western diamondback rattlesnake is there as a tiny animated figure that breathes and looks around. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.

It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.