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Saturday, Nov 21, 2009 10:15:08 PM |
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      RATTLESNAKE RESEARCH 
The hunt starts with driving, up and down mountain roads, looking for a faint signal on the radio transmitter. Then the fun begins. Foraging down steep slopes, through thick brush and briers. Stopping every so often to get a radio fix and a compass bearing.
On a scale one to ten, ten being the hardest, Jennifer says tracking rattlesnake is a nine. "These rattle snake are like the worst critters to track ever. I'm serious. They can fool you, a lot! You might think you're close, but you could be a mile away," said Jennifer.
Typically, Jennifer will not handle or capture the snake, but today she is gathering some important information. "I measure length so I can determine how much they grow each year. I weigh them. I give them a color mark, so I can identify them from a distance safely."
"One thing I have discovered with this research is the at the rattle snakes will use new clear cuts. Prior to that it was thought that rattle snakes do not use clear cuts that they only use mature forest stands," said Adams.
The West Virginia rattler can live up to 30 years, but is range is specific, its reproduction slow and has many predators. The worst being humans who take snakes for pets, skins and trophies. Rattlesnake populations are not in crisis right now, but in other nearby states extinction has occurred and Jennifer doesn't want that to happen here. Jennifer thinks the problems can be corrected. "My feeling is that here in West Virginia that we certainly need to manage the timber rattlesnake populations, so twenty years down the road, it is not a problem." Which would be tragic because snakes are part of the chain of life in our woods.
Rattlesnake hunters come to west virginia to take rattlesnakes, sometimes illegally, for pets,trophies and their skins. Links to learn more For more information about Jennifer Adams reseach you can e-mail her directly: jennifer_p_adams@hotmail.com General information about rattlesnakes and protecting them from "roundups": www.hsus.org/ace/12058 More information about the West Virginia Timber Rattlesnake: www.marshall.edu/herp/Old/rattlesnake.htm About all snakes found in West Virginia: www.marshall.edu/herp/snakes.htm What to do if you are biten by a venomous snake: www.snakebitenews.com/html/faq.html www.fda.gov/fdac/features/995_snakes.html www.hsc.wvu.edu/charleston/wvpc/snakes.htm |
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GET MORE INFORMATION ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA'S WILDLIFE  
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