The rattlesnakes are hibernating now, spending the winter beneath the surface of a rock outcrop in Colorado where a camera has been posted. The camera has recorded a livestream online ー revealing the secret lives of a species like never before.  But Project RattleCam pauses for the winter, for reasons both ethical and logistical.  Ethically, “we want to be as hands-off as possible,” said Owen Bachhuber, one of the graduate students who has led the project that California Polytechnic State University launched at a Colorado “mega den” in 2024.  The rattlesnakes here have been estimated in the hundreds and, yes, they see the camera. But to study their natural ways, the aim is to be a fly on the wall ー or a fly on a scaly back, as livestream viewers have spotted on occasion, when one buzzes by the snakes basking under the summer sun.  A rattlesnake glares and rattles in a defensive position. Photo by Max Roberts As for winter, viewing “is not geographically possible,” explained Max Roberts, who partnered with Bachhuber at Cal Poly. The snakes’ hibernation quarters resemble something like “a maze or matrix of fissures,” Roberts said. “It’s basically impossible to get a camera where you can see.”  Much to the chagrin of Project RattleCam’s loyal viewers.  The YouTube channel has more than 22,000 subscribers, with people from 122 different countries tuning in to see the Colorado den, according to a paper published last year by Bachhuber, Roberts and others at Cal Poly. The paper offered a detailed recap of Project RattleCam’s technology and social engagement to date. That engagement was one hope of the project’s founder, Emily Taylor, a Cal Poly professor who has studied rattlesnakes for 25 years. The project was inspired by her seeing the snakes as much more than the venomous villains seen by the masses.  “Often what you see in media portrayals of snakes relates to sensational depictions designed to evoke fear and animosity,” she said in a press release last fall. “Project RattleCam has encouraged empathy and environmentally responsible human behaviors for a species that is important to the ecosystem.” That’s while the project is achieving another initial hope of Taylor’s: capturing rattlesnake behaviors never before seen.  A livestream camera placed in Colorado has allowed for a new view of rattlesnakes. Photo by Alexis Kovacevic Colorado’s 24/7 livestream has opened up a world previously out of view.  As Bachhuber wrote in his master’s thesis: “Much of our historical knowledge of wild rattlesnake behavior has been confounded by the disturbance caused by human presence, leaving some rare and/or nuanced behaviors potentially undocumented and creating gaps in our understanding of social interactions among these mysterious and feared animals.”  Rattlesnakes have been feared and seemingly ignored by livestream cameras previously, Roberts noted in his master’s thesis. (He and Bachhuber are now pursuing doctorate degrees in Arizona).  Livestream cameras, Roberts wrote, “have focused mainly on charismatic species such as large mammals and birds and less so on unpopular taxonomic groups such as snakes, despite tremendous potential.” With Project RattleCam, he saw the potential that Taylor saw: a chance to change perceptions.  For their graduate studies, Owen Bachhuber, left, and Max Roberts partnered together on Project RattleCam. Photo by Alexis Kovacevic Amid what scientists see as Earth’s sixth mass extinction event, “many different animals are suffering in many different ways ー pollution, habitat destruction, invasive species, climate change,” Roberts said. And for rattlesnakes facing wide public scorn, “it’s like they get even more added on to their plate.”  They have needed “someone to stand up for them,” Roberts continued. “I feel like we’re kind of these messengers for them.”  A message from research compiled last year after more than 350,000 hours of viewing between professional and citizen scientists: Maybe rattlesnakes aren’t so different from us.  They are social, for one.  “My research found that the females are more gregarious than the males,” Bachhuber said. “Females spend more time with other females than the males do.”  Maybe that’s predictable, considering females stay put to nurse while males have been known to be away from the rookery, off hunting.  “Before this research, we thought that male rattlesnakes left the den and never came back by the den until the very end of summer, kind of around the time the females were having their babies,” Roberts said. “But now we know that some males do come back during the summer.” As for those social females, he said: “We even saw preference exerted, where maybe two females would spend a lot of time together and then there would be another one they would kind of push off.” And it appeared females shared caretaking duties. Pups were seen at the side of females that were not their mothers.  Babysitting?  “Are those adults related to one another? Could it be grandma or aunt or just another adult?” Bachhuber asked. “We just don’t know.”  A livestreaming camera in Colorado has revealed the social lives of rattlesnakes. Courtesy photo Curious observations led to other questions. For example: Were males attempting to mate with other males and females with other females? Some instances indeed appeared more intimate than combative. But “maybe it could be a dominance behavior. It’s hard to say,” Roberts said. “It’s like this new frontier that we’ve been able to at least expose and generate interest at looking into further.”  Also of interest: regular head “twitching,” as Bachhuber described it. “It almost looked like a secret language between the snakes, where as they approach each other they twitch their heads at one another,” he said. “We’re not sure what they’re saying, but it’s very clearly something they’re doing.”  On the livestream the rattlesnakes were seen courting and wrestling, slithering away and bunching close together, taking in the sun and drinking water. A shadow of a bird would appear, and the snakes would scurry away, else be a victim like the baby that was seen grabbed by a black-billed magpie. Another snake was seen excitedly reacting to the fresh scent of a woodrat, potential prey.  This and more was noted by RattleCam viewers who would mark their observations with time stamps, so others could investigate later. “We learned really well how to fast forward and rewind a YouTube video to a very small scale,” Bacchuber said. Thor is one of the Colorado rattlesnakes that viewers of a livestream came to name. Photo by Max Roberts Viewers came to name 44 identifiable snakes listed on rattlecam.org. There’s Pansy, who likes “watching the different species of insects land and fly on her body.” There’s Sue, who “does NOT like wasps biting the mega den’s pups.” There’s Gladys, who “especially loves when it rains and she can catch the water on her scales.” There’s also Thor, unmistakable for his swollen lip and for his aggression.  He might offer a reminder emphasized by Project RattleCam: “Snakes are still dangerous, wild animals,” Bacchuber said.  But more than scorn, they are worthy of conservation, the project also emphasizes. That seems to be understood by people who have commented on the livestream.  “Trust me, I have no desire to be in close contact with any snake,” wrote one. “But I do have a new respect for them.” Wrote another: “I used to think it was ok to hurt these snakes, I feel so terrible I ever even thought that.” And another: “I used to be scared of these snakes. Now I enjoy learning and seeing them.”  Maybe the experiment goes beyond snakes, Bacchuber has theorized.  “On a bigger level,” he said, “if you can relate to an animal that is so different from you as a person and you learn to care for that animal, maybe you can extend that to caring for other people who are different from you.”  See the snakesProject RattleCam’s livestream is down during winter hibernation. The 24/7 viewing typically returns May through October. Past recordings can be watched on the YouTube channel: youtube.com/@projectrattlecam. More information at rattlecam.org. The rattle and thick rear of a pregnant rattlesnake. Photo by Max Roberts ...read more read less