Dangerous Little Treasures

Here's a sinister looking critter:

Eastern Massassauga (Sistrurus catenatus),
St. Louis Zoo, St. Louis, MO 3/2/2012

This is an Eastern Massassauga, (Sistrurus catenatus), a small rattlesnake which used to be the only venomous snake found in Lake County. I say used to because in 2009, biologists collected the last few known in the county for a breeding program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. Even when they were here, though, they were hard to spot.

Although the species as a whole is listed as of Least Concern by the IUCN (1) , it is listed as endangered in Illinois (2) , as it is in most states, and it's a candidate species for Federal listing as well. (3)

This isn't the only viper to be considered endangered. Out of 182 viper species, the IUCN lists 24 as Endangered or Critically Endangered, with 12 more listed as Data Deficient, meaning we don't know enough to say. (1) Here's one of the Endangered ones:

Ocellate Mountain Viper (Vipera wagneri),
St. Louis Zoo, St. Louis, MO 3/2/2012

This is an Ocellate Mountain Viper (Vipera wagneri) from Turkey and Iran. Ironically, it's threatened in part by collectors looking for rare species to display.

Focusing only on species also doesn't capture the entire picture: this next snake is considered part of a common species, but the subspecies it belongs to is Critically Endangered, with perhaps 200 left in the wild.

Aruba Island Rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus unicolor),
Louisville Zoo, Jefferson Co, KY 3/28/2013

This is an Aruban Island Rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus unicolor), found only on the island of Aruba.

All of these are venomous, of course, and all are potentially dangerous. Most snakebites, even from venomous snakes, aren't fatal to healthy adult humans, but that doesn't mean you'd enjoy the process. And yet, we humans are doing just fine, even in places with plenty of venomous snakes, while the snakes themselves seem to be having their problems. It looks as if we're the truly dangerous animals!

It's easy to think of dangerous animals as something we need to get rid of to be safe. But the world isn't safe, and trying to make it so far too often produces results we don't particularly care for. I've hiked in Grizzly country, and I've encountered wild rattlesnakes on a number of occasions. Knowing they're not out there does make walking our woods here in Lake County a more relaxing experience, I suppose, but it does mean you don't have to be quite so alert, and is that really what we want when we're out in the wild?

(1) IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 18 March 2014.

(2) http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/ESPB/Documents/ETChecklist2011.pdf

(3) http://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/reptiles/eama/eama_qanda.html