Know Full About The Combat Dance Of Rattlesnake

The combat dance of rattlesnake is one of Nature’s great oddities. Actually, it is not a dance but a curious kind of wrestling combat, and it is believed to be rooted in the instinct of all animals to protect their own territory.

The encounter takes place when two angry snakes, one of them an intruder, meet head-on. The combatants pause for a moment, and then, with a sudden convulsive movement, they simultaneously raise the forward parts of their bodies straight up in the air to a height of about two feet and press against each other.

At the same time, they intertwine their tails firmly together to give themselves a purchase for their upright positions. It looks like an embrace, but it is not. It is a fight, each snake trying to push the other to the ground. Weaving back and forth in the air, the embattled reptiles slam and press the free portions of their bodies against each other with great force. The back of the head offers the most vulnerable target. Each snake knows that a push at this point can easily topple his opponent. To add power to this push, the snake fills their lungs deeply with air to make their bodies more rigid on the attack.

The fight continues for some minutes, during which time the snakes are completely oblivious to any danger that threatens nearby. Finally one snake is brought to the ground. The victor holds him there for a moment and then allows the vanquished snake to escape and glide away unharmed.

Only male snakes engage in this combat dance. And they fight only to drive their opponent from the field, very much as medieval knights used to do. They do not fight to kill. If so, they would use their fangs on each other, since most snakes are susceptible to the fatal effects of their own venom.

The combat dance has not been observed very often. The well-known herpetologist, Ross Allen, says that he has witnessed it only three times in more than more than forty years spent studying the habits of reptiles.