The livestream cameras have shown babies in California, Colorado and the first images of pups from the new Pennsylvania cam

Contact: Emily Taylor, etaylor@calpoly.edu, 805-440-6288 
Scott Boback: bobacks@dickinson.edu, 717-245-1799 

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — It’s the season for babies in the snake world and Project RattleCam is capturing magical moments.  

The livestream camera feed has revealed footage of a live birth, dozens of newborns and even observed the cycle of life as a five-year-old snake, Iris, first seen in 2021 as a baby in California. Iris recently gave birth to her own offspring. 

And for the first time, the project captured the activities of baby Timber rattlesnakes in Pennsylvania, after that latest camera went live in May.  

“After witnessing the first days of life of two other rattlesnake species on our cams, I can say that seeing brand new Timber Rattlesnake babies basking in the sun and exploring their new world is a huge privilege and endlessly fascinating,” said Emily Taylor, a Cal Poly biological sciences professor and co-director of Project RattleCam. 

The initial observations of newborns took place July 30 in California, Aug. 11 in Colorado and Sept. 8 in Pennsylvania. More than 60 newborn rattlesnakes have been observed in Colorado. 

Project RattleCam allows the public access to observe snake activities and researchers to monitor the behaviors of the animals in their natural habitats without human disturbance.  

On both the California and Colorado cameras, viewers have seen females deliver their pups live via the livestream, trailed by the arrival of the Pennsylvania neonates, which took place at 9:09 a.m. EST (on Sept. 8). 

“There is literally a handful of people in the world that have seen rattlesnake pups being born from their mother,” said Scott Boback, a Dickinson biology professor and co-director of Project RattleCam. “After spending the whole summer getting to know the individual snakes, viewers, including me, were overwhelmed with joy to be able to see the delivery. It’s a tremendous gift to be able to watch timber rattlesnake pups during their first few days of life.” 

Dickinson College student Zoe Aksim added: “One of the reasons it was cool is that behavior is a field that can only really be studied through long periods of observation. You can read about or watch videos of specific behaviors, but unless you’ve watched the animal for a long time day after day, you miss any nuances and have trouble differentiating the normal from the slightly unusual. Project RattleCam provided that opportunity to get to know the snakes and their daily routines and see amazing rare behaviors, like male combat and courtship.” 

Cal Poly biological sciences graduate student, Anthony DiMeglio, is studying whether baby snakes cuddle with their own mother or may find an adult to cozy up with.  

“Cuddling is a common rattlesnake behavior, which provides baby snakes protection,” DiMeglio said. “King snakes are a predator of rattlesnakes, but in general they wouldn’t eat an adult because that’s too big. King snakes do target babies though.”   

In past research conducted by Taylor and students gauging people’s feelings towards rattlesnakes, when people observe mother-pup interactions it often changes perspectives of animosity and fear to feelings of respect for the animals.  

Taylor has led public campaigns to reduce harm and the killing of snakes due to people’s false perceptions around aggressive rattlesnake behaviors. In fact, rattlesnakes generally strike as a defense mechanism and seek to avoid human encounters unless threatened.  

“By showing rattlesnakes watching over their babies, Project RattleCam is shifting people perception about rattlesnakes, making them realize that they are not threatening animals and that they deserve to be loved too,” said Océane Da Cunha, a Cal Poly Frost Postdoctoral Research Fellow working with Taylor.  

Top Photo: A Colorado Prairie rattlesnake and pups (including one pictured in the middle of this image) recently were captured cuddling on the Project RattleCam livestream.

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