The apex predator

Dedicated exclusively to field herping.

Moderator: Scott Waters

Post Reply
User avatar
Mulebrother
Posts: 364
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:31 am
Location: A bunker near Mountainburg AR

The apex predator

Post by Mulebrother »



How awesome is this? Pretty awesome I'd say. I never saw it coming, and I was looking.
User avatar
Carl Brune
Posts: 488
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 11:22 am
Location: Athens, OH
Contact:

Re: The apex predator

Post by Carl Brune »

Fricking jumping viper. Makes you think twice about how we go about photographing those things... Very cool video.
Will Bird
Posts: 11
Joined: June 23rd, 2010, 4:11 pm

Re: The apex predator

Post by Will Bird »

Let me guess...the airport wanted to expand so a "study" was undertaken. The end result will be the destruction of the habitat used by the individuals in this population.
Will
User avatar
VanAR
Posts: 590
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:36 am
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: The apex predator

Post by VanAR »

daddy's hungry!
Shane_TX
Posts: 603
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 6:44 pm
Location: Upper TX Coast

Re: The apex predator

Post by Shane_TX »

That squirrel knew something was wrong. My 'most aerial Crotalus' vote just changed from viridis to horridus.

Shane
User avatar
Fundad
Posts: 5721
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:11 am
Location: Los Angeles County
Contact:

Re: The apex predator

Post by Fundad »

WOW Truly Amazing that you captured that on video.. :beer: :thumb: :shock:

Seriously mad props..

Who was it that said they can only strike 2/3 rd sof their body length? That is to a 4 ft strike, heck maybe more. :shock:
I have seen a handful of crotes strike ("Jump"for lack of a better word) like that in my time, and no one seemed to believe me.. Now this video is proof.. :lol: :lol:

Hmm, note to self be EXTRA careful in Timber country.. :shock: :lol: :shock:

And what was the stupid pigeon doing? It was the pigeons lucky day..

Bravo for filming and sharing that us.... :thumb: :thumb: :beer:

Fundad
User avatar
Mulebrother
Posts: 364
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:31 am
Location: A bunker near Mountainburg AR

Re: The apex predator

Post by Mulebrother »

I wish I could take credit for filming...but all i did was find it on you tube! :lol:

But yeah, Van...there are several live cams at this site...videos come from 'north central ozarks' in arkansas...ever heard of them? Pretty neat videos of timbers for sure.
User avatar
VanAR
Posts: 590
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:36 am
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: The apex predator

Post by VanAR »

huh, I wonder where.... and who?
User avatar
herpseeker1978
Posts: 1139
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:05 am
Location: Albuquerque

Re: The apex predator

Post by herpseeker1978 »

I had a viridis jump at me like that last year, it had been striking at all the cars straddling it. I moved it off with my hook. I also had a gopher do that when I released it. Very cool video!

Josh :beer:
User avatar
Mike Pingleton
Posts: 1471
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:45 am
Location: One of the boys from Illinois
Contact:

Re: The apex predator

Post by Mike Pingleton »

Carl Brune wrote:Fricking jumping viper. Makes you think twice about how we go about photographing those things... Very cool video.
I had one jump at me a couple years ago - up to that point, I had developed an ass-headed complacency towards horridus, since most of the ones I encountered were seemingly mellow teddy bears. I am fortunate enough to make this confession with all body parts unbruised and intact.

That was cool indeed - now there's a video post worth watching! I give it 4 stars out of 5 - I would give it 5 but it lacks the teenage narrator needed to build dramatic tension.

-Mike
Geqqo
Posts: 75
Joined: February 11th, 2011, 8:09 pm

Re: The apex predator

Post by Geqqo »

A perfect example of how alcohol and rattlesnakes don't mix. That inebriated squirrel learned a real life lesson there, haha.

But in all seriousness, that's what I call a wildlife video! One of the best I have ever seen on this forum, and it debunked a serious myth about Crotalids. A great lesson for any novices out there and how they may behave around rattlesnakes thinkin they know them from A to Z to STRIKE. Next time one gets on one's belly to get that head on shot a 600mm telephoto may be a better idea than a 105 macro. Awesome stuff, keep your wits about ya y'all.

Dan
User avatar
monklet
Posts: 2648
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 4:44 pm
Location: Ventura, CA
Contact:

Re: The apex predator

Post by monklet »

Best snake viddie ever! :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: ...but can't believe the video guy just sat there and watched it when he/she could have picked it up by the tail while screaming "Crikey, look at me while I harass this dangerous and aggressive animal"! ;)

Good proof that it's best just to watch and will be doing much more of that next season.

Very interesting to watch the snake hunt for its dispatched prey.

Brian - the mourning dove is almost certainly has a nest nearby and is performing a distraction display, most commonly seen in ground nesting birds such as Killdeer. Never seen or heard of that in mourning doves but have seen mockingbirds offer such. Neither are ground nesters ...but then snakes can climb so...
User avatar
vincemartino
Posts: 422
Joined: July 20th, 2010, 5:49 pm
Location: Central MD/Big Sur, CA

Re: The apex predator

Post by vincemartino »

This video is definitely getting bookmarked. Awesome shot. How long did you have to wait for that?
User avatar
KingCam
Posts: 1020
Joined: April 11th, 2011, 1:03 pm

Re: The apex predator

Post by KingCam »

wow, that was incredible, thanks SO much for sharing!! :thumb: :beer:
User avatar
kcmatt
Posts: 372
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:38 am
Contact:

Re: The apex predator

Post by kcmatt »

Crazy. I have had one horridus launch itself maybe 2/3 that distance at me, completely re-setting my caution meter. I would guess that many of us have been in proximities where that kind of effort would have landed us in the hospital.

That animal was really going for broke, I don't think the defensive mode sets the instincts to that kind of shot very often.
User avatar
gbin
Posts: 2292
Joined: June 10th, 2010, 4:28 pm

Re: The apex predator

Post by gbin »

Truly awesome video! Thanks for bringing it here!

:thumb:

Gerry
User avatar
peterknuteberg
Posts: 191
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 5:51 am
Location: Chicago, Illinois

Re: The apex predator

Post by peterknuteberg »

I was trying to figure out what kind of strike range this snake had and I was able to stop the video and capture 2 shots, a before and after, although the quality is not the best:

Image

Image.

The first shot makes it appear that the squirrel saw the snake and then tried to move away quickly but it was too late. Perhaps the squirrel's movement away from the strike, moved the snake's body forward. However, the second photo shows the snake's head well beyond the 1/3 of the snake's body length that many discuss as the strike zone. I was trying to calculate the length of the strike by using the squirrel's body size and am thinking that perhaps the strike as shown in the second photo is somewhere in the area of 3 feet, but it could be longer. This makes me rethink what I thought was a safe distance as so many have stated. Mulebrother, it was a cool video. :beer:

Any thoughts on strike ranges would be appreciated.

Mike, I agree with you re the lack of dramatic tension here:
That was cool indeed - now there's a video post worth watching! I give it 4 stars out of 5 - I would give it 5 but it lacks the teenage narrator needed to build dramatic tension.
:lol:

Any thoughts on strike ranges would be appreciated. I feel I was way too close to this big boy:

Image (snake road).
User avatar
Ross Padilla
Posts: 2666
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 6:29 pm
Location: I love L.A.
Contact:

Re: The apex predator

Post by Ross Padilla »

Wow, what a video! And that Timber was exceptionally nice too.
mikemike
Posts: 1207
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 1:37 pm
Location: Ft. Smith, Arkansas
Contact:

Re: The apex predator

Post by mikemike »

Very nice. I just saw Eric posted it on FB too. That big Viridis I found in KS in July was pretty jumpy but not like that. I had a subadult helli in LA county that was striking so hard it was getting much more than 2/3s, but still nowhere near this guy.
User avatar
pete
Posts: 745
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:11 pm
Location: cape cod ma.

Re: The apex predator

Post by pete »

That was TOO COOL!!! :thumb:
User avatar
Whitney George
Posts: 2
Joined: August 19th, 2011, 12:48 pm
Location: Western NC

Re: The apex predator

Post by Whitney George »

I'n increasing my personal safety zone after seeing that incredible video. Terrific horridus and enoyed wacthing the actual tracking of the squirrel and the pigeon "detour".
User avatar
Brendan
Posts: 435
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 4:26 pm
Location: Arizona

Re: The apex predator

Post by Brendan »

Thanks for sharing the link. YouTube herping can be almost as much fun as the real thing at times. One day I need to learn how to edit video so I can post some feeding, breeding and combat videos.
User avatar
jayder85
Posts: 369
Joined: January 1st, 2012, 7:14 am
Location: Pike County KY
Contact:

Re: The apex predator

Post by jayder85 »

I am sorry to resurrect an old post, but somehow I came across this one while googling something lol. This is awesome! May not be bad to bring this thread back to life. Maybe some new members would like to see it!
User avatar
BillMcGighan
Posts: 2362
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 9:23 am
Location: Unicoi, TN

Re: The apex predator

Post by BillMcGighan »

I am sorry to resurrect an old post, but
Glad you did, JD. Somehow I missed this last year.

A1 video. :thumb: :thumb:
User avatar
Kelly Mc
Posts: 4529
Joined: October 18th, 2011, 1:03 pm

Re: The apex predator

Post by Kelly Mc »

No wonder snakes were the first animals considered magical.

It appeared like an instant mirage.
User avatar
zwhitman
Posts: 46
Joined: March 4th, 2011, 2:45 pm
Location: Fort Collins CO & Englewood Cliffs NJ
Contact:

Re: The apex predator

Post by zwhitman »

This is an amazing video. I can't believe they caught that!

2 things regarding the strike distance... First of all it looks as if the momentum of the squirrels jump pulls the snake even further from its starting point. Second, as mentioned above, a defensive strike and a predatory strike are different. While it is certainly possible to get bite by a freak leaping snake (and perhaps many of us do get a bit too close) a defensive snake wants to return to its coil to keep protected, not land sprawled out 3 feet away. I have had captive snakes fling themselves out of their tub and onto the floor to try and grab a rodent, but I have never had a scared/defensive snake strike and end up on the floor.

With that said, I doubt this cornsnake was trying to eat the dog... anyone seen this pic going around facebook lately...

Image
Post Reply