During a field trip to Caw Caw, my plant taxonomy class encountered Agkistrodon piscivorus in the mid-afternoon. The temperature outside was in the mid 70's, and it was sunny out. This cottonmouth (also called a water moccasin) was sunning right next to the path. Had our class not been paying attention and looking for little plants next to the path, we may have never seen the snake. The snake was dark brown on top, but the pattern was seen on the lower half of its upper body. In getting the picture, I was close to about three feet away. The snake did not do its normal defense posture of opening its bright white mouth(that is how they get the name "cottonmouth".) Like the field guide suggests, they hold their ground instead of slithering away to hide. They are able to "glide" across the water. They are the world's only semi-aquatic pit viper and are known to inhabit fresh, brackish, and salt water. As their species name implies, they typically eat fish.
In a recent study, researchers (wearing protective clothing), tried 3 different strategies of purposefully "harassing" cottonmouths. The first study was walking within 1 foot of them. Of those 13, none of them bit at the researchers. The second was what happens when you step on them? Only 1 of 22 snakes bit them. And what if you accidentally pick one up? 13 of the 36 snakes struck at the researchers. This shows that while venomous, cottonmouths aren't evil.
6 comments:
I was on this field trip with you. This was a pretty cool thing to see because there was an entire family of Alligator mississippiensis not far off from the snake. I'm curious if the snakes hide in nests under the Spartina grass like the alligators do.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing this story! It sounds like cottonmouths are fairly common at Caw Caw. We saw one there last year, but in a different spot.
Wow! What an exciting find for a plant field trip!
That's so cool, I agree with Shannon that is exciting for a plant field trip, We were on several field trips for our herp class and we seen only one snakes ! Every field trip we went on I was hoping to see a venomous snake, but unfortunately I don't think we saw any, except for at the aquarium. I really wanted to see some becase snakes are one of my favorite herps. Was anybody in you class scared? Did you find it cool that you were able to identify what type of snake it was ?
That is so exciting!! Although I'm terrified of snakes, I'm kind of bummed that we were never able to see a venomous snake on a field trip. I know from lecture and others' posts that these snakes are being protected because of low numbers which is why we may not have seen them, but maybe if we were at Caw Caw on a sunnier/warmer day we might have. Cool post!
Caw Caw County Park is a great place to go for a chance to see venomous snakes - both cottonmouths and copperheads are abundant there, although cottonmouths may be more visible. It's a great place for gators, too! I highly recommend grabbing a few friends and heading out there on your own!!
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