1 00:00:13,546 --> 00:00:19,246 The mere suggestion of this creature strikes fear into the hearts of many. 2 00:00:19,486 --> 00:00:21,647 Legendary serpent. 3 00:00:21,888 --> 00:00:24,413 Stealthy predator. 4 00:00:24,657 --> 00:00:30,562 This king of the rattlesnakes won his reputation for good reason. 5 00:00:31,965 --> 00:00:36,527 In truth, his world is one full of danger, 6 00:00:36,770 --> 00:00:40,934 one that we know little about. 7 00:00:41,508 --> 00:00:44,477 Look at that! 8 00:00:44,711 --> 00:00:53,676 One man has set out to change that and nearly dies doing it. 9 00:01:59,285 --> 00:02:02,743 Dr. Bruce Means ventures through the inland waterways 10 00:02:02,989 --> 00:02:08,427 that went from Georgia through Florida's panhandle. 11 00:02:08,661 --> 00:02:14,793 A freelance scientist, he is often on his own and prefers it that way. 12 00:02:18,838 --> 00:02:21,534 For 25 years now, Means has pioneered 13 00:02:21,774 --> 00:02:27,872 the study of North America's largest and most feared viper. 14 00:02:32,585 --> 00:02:38,956 Means journeys into this personal heart of darkness on a mission. 15 00:02:39,592 --> 00:02:43,653 He fears for the fate of the venomous snake he is after, 16 00:02:43,897 --> 00:02:46,127 the Eastern diamondback rattler, 17 00:02:48,568 --> 00:02:57,567 a proud and complex recluse slithering toward the black hole of extinction. 18 00:02:59,345 --> 00:03:02,837 For over 50 years, I've wondered in nature by myself, 19 00:03:03,082 --> 00:03:06,882 sometimes barefooted, but usually with just my sandals on. 20 00:03:09,956 --> 00:03:14,120 Where I'm heading takes some getting used to. 21 00:03:14,394 --> 00:03:18,626 There's marsh and muck, but on the other side 22 00:03:18,865 --> 00:03:22,392 there's this paradise where the longleaf pine forest grows 23 00:03:22,635 --> 00:03:28,096 and this special creature I love so much survives. 24 00:03:28,374 --> 00:03:32,367 Diamondbacks are almost impossible to find. 25 00:03:33,746 --> 00:03:35,407 Sometimes in the summer, though, 26 00:03:35,648 --> 00:03:40,017 you can use the gopher tortoise for a guide. 27 00:03:43,189 --> 00:03:48,183 Pregnant snakes often make their temporary homes 28 00:03:48,428 --> 00:03:51,329 in the long burrows that the turtle digs. 29 00:03:51,564 --> 00:03:57,366 So if you find a tortoise, he can sometimes lead you to a diamondback. 30 00:04:05,078 --> 00:04:11,017 There! There's the gopher tortoise about two feet down. 31 00:04:19,125 --> 00:04:22,322 The gopher tortoise shovels out his own burrow, 32 00:04:22,562 --> 00:04:28,933 creating a home for hundreds of other creatures large and small. 33 00:04:29,435 --> 00:04:35,237 There's another gopher of sorts, the gopher frog. 34 00:04:36,843 --> 00:04:40,176 The Florida mouse and its pups. 35 00:04:40,413 --> 00:04:45,112 And something we've been searching for, something menacing. 36 00:04:45,351 --> 00:04:52,951 Incredibly, this is also the home of the Eastern diamondback rattlesnake. 37 00:04:53,192 --> 00:04:55,990 A serpent scaled in diamonds, 38 00:04:56,229 --> 00:04:59,460 it is among the most highly evolved of all snakes, 39 00:04:59,699 --> 00:05:01,826 among the most dangerous, 40 00:05:02,068 --> 00:05:05,697 and among the most unlikely roommate any tortoise ever had. 41 00:05:05,938 --> 00:05:09,738 The perfect odd couple. 42 00:05:09,976 --> 00:05:13,810 Diamondbacks only prey on warmblooded animals, 43 00:05:14,047 --> 00:05:17,539 so the coldblooded tortoise is safe from the snake. 44 00:05:17,784 --> 00:05:24,087 Still, the snake is not harmless and the tortoise is not taking any chances. 45 00:05:40,139 --> 00:05:46,510 The Eastern diamondback rattlesnake is as American as the bald eagle. 46 00:05:49,782 --> 00:05:54,776 It is the largest rattlesnake in the world. 47 00:05:57,023 --> 00:06:00,390 This is a singular serpent. 48 00:06:00,727 --> 00:06:07,496 Many snakes swim, but few take to surfing like this rattler. 49 00:06:07,734 --> 00:06:12,671 It seems as at home at sea as it is on land. 50 00:06:14,674 --> 00:06:20,476 It is the king of American snakes more forbidding, 51 00:06:21,047 --> 00:06:26,314 almost invisible and utterly silent, but for its warning. 52 00:06:28,187 --> 00:06:35,150 Its signature, the menacing rattle, signalling the nearness of sudden death. 53 00:06:37,296 --> 00:06:40,265 The snake's trademark is made up of scales 54 00:06:40,500 --> 00:06:44,903 left behind each time the snake sheds its skin. 55 00:06:45,138 --> 00:06:49,472 They scratch together when shaken. 56 00:06:49,709 --> 00:06:56,046 Amazingly, the frequency is the same as an ambulance siren. 57 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:04,850 The rattle evolved in the ancient dance of survival. 58 00:07:06,058 --> 00:07:07,650 Twelve thousand years ago, 59 00:07:07,894 --> 00:07:11,990 a menagerie of strange animals roamed the Atlantic Coast 60 00:07:12,231 --> 00:07:14,825 mastodons, lamas and bison, 61 00:07:15,067 --> 00:07:19,163 like this one, were as plentiful as deer. 62 00:07:19,472 --> 00:07:21,667 All are gone now from the region 63 00:07:21,908 --> 00:07:26,538 but for this survivor, the Eastern diamondback. 64 00:07:26,779 --> 00:07:30,306 Having melted into his environment through camouflage, 65 00:07:30,550 --> 00:07:36,682 the viper may have evolved a signal to spook off these big mammals. 66 00:07:36,923 --> 00:07:44,659 Instead of being trampled, the snake rattled out a warningdon't tread on me. 67 00:07:52,371 --> 00:07:56,330 Like the snake, Means prefers to be left alone. 68 00:07:56,742 --> 00:08:00,200 So often, it's just the doctor and the diamondback, 69 00:08:00,446 --> 00:08:06,282 man on snake, and sometimes snake on man. 70 00:08:06,519 --> 00:08:09,181 I had hoped to be one of the few herpetologists 71 00:08:09,422 --> 00:08:10,946 who studied venomous animals 72 00:08:11,190 --> 00:08:14,887 and to say at the end of a career that I had never been bitten. 73 00:08:15,361 --> 00:08:17,989 Means didn't get his wish. 74 00:08:18,331 --> 00:08:21,323 He suffered his first bite in a laboratory accident 75 00:08:21,567 --> 00:08:23,558 more than two decades ago. 76 00:08:23,803 --> 00:08:28,672 Then a few years later, he paddled out to a distant and deserted barrier island 77 00:08:28,908 --> 00:08:33,106 off the Florida coast to take a wildlife inventory. 78 00:08:33,713 --> 00:08:36,307 The hazards of meeting up with a killer snake 79 00:08:36,549 --> 00:08:39,211 were the furthest thing from his mind. 80 00:08:39,452 --> 00:08:42,751 I was wandering through the dune of vegetation 81 00:08:42,989 --> 00:08:44,183 and I encountered a rattle snake 82 00:08:44,423 --> 00:08:49,122 about a threeandahalffoot, beautiful looking female. 83 00:08:50,463 --> 00:08:52,795 Had my camera, so I start taking photographs. 84 00:08:53,032 --> 00:08:58,265 The snake wanted to start fleeing and I grabbed it by the tail 85 00:08:58,504 --> 00:09:00,768 and threw it up into the open, and it coiled up, 86 00:09:01,007 --> 00:09:02,599 so I got more photographs. 87 00:09:02,842 --> 00:09:04,571 And at that point, I should have been satisfied, 88 00:09:04,810 --> 00:09:07,711 but for some crazy reason, and I'll never know why, 89 00:09:07,947 --> 00:09:10,142 I decided I wanted to capture the snake. 90 00:09:11,851 --> 00:09:15,343 I got in front of the snake, and I'm trying to pin the head of the snake 91 00:09:15,588 --> 00:09:20,924 when it struck at me and I misjudged how far the snake could strike. 92 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:23,060 It could strike further than I realized. 93 00:09:23,296 --> 00:09:26,493 And it, one fang got me on the forefinger. 94 00:09:26,732 --> 00:09:30,725 I looked at my forefinger and there was a pinprick of blood there, 95 00:09:30,970 --> 00:09:34,406 just beginning, a little jewel of red. 96 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:37,609 I thought to myself, "I cannot believe I let this happen. 97 00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:42,273 When he was bitten in the safety of his lab, 98 00:09:42,515 --> 00:09:46,918 he collapsed in just four minutes, his legs rubbery and useless. 99 00:09:47,486 --> 00:09:51,547 Now, he faced a halfmile trek back to his canoe. 100 00:09:51,791 --> 00:09:55,818 He had no communications and no choice. 101 00:09:56,162 --> 00:09:59,859 The scientist in him understood that with every step he took, 102 00:10:00,099 --> 00:10:02,431 his chances at survival dimmed, 103 00:10:02,668 --> 00:10:06,570 because the long march pumped the venom faster through his body. 104 00:10:06,806 --> 00:10:11,743 And he knew from his last experience that the legs go first. 105 00:10:11,978 --> 00:10:15,243 The entire time it took me to get myself to safety, 106 00:10:15,481 --> 00:10:20,475 there was one thing that overwhelmingly occupied the whole episode: 107 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:22,551 I kept thinking, "You're gonna do it. 108 00:10:22,788 --> 00:10:26,121 Don't let this fear get you. Don't panic. Keep going." 109 00:10:26,359 --> 00:10:28,919 And I set my teeth, I mean, I literally clenched my teeth, 110 00:10:29,161 --> 00:10:32,927 and I said, "I'm gonna do it." 111 00:10:34,934 --> 00:10:37,801 As the pain spread, the paralysis set in, 112 00:10:38,037 --> 00:10:41,029 and he still had to paddle nearly a mile across the channel 113 00:10:41,273 --> 00:10:45,107 separating him from the mainland. 114 00:10:45,344 --> 00:10:47,141 Almost 30 minutes had passed. 115 00:10:47,380 --> 00:10:52,977 Means knew from experience time was running out. 116 00:10:53,219 --> 00:10:56,279 I had many thoughts of my life passing, you know, before me, 117 00:10:56,522 --> 00:10:59,821 and most of all I worried about my children and my wife, 118 00:11:00,059 --> 00:11:03,358 about what they would think if I would not make it. 119 00:11:03,596 --> 00:11:07,088 And worst of all, here I was in a canoe, 120 00:11:07,333 --> 00:11:09,699 and suppose that I panicked in the middle of the water and drowned 121 00:11:09,935 --> 00:11:11,664 and disappeared and they'd never have known what had happened to me. 122 00:11:11,904 --> 00:11:13,895 So I kept that thing in mind, "I'm gonna make it. 123 00:11:14,140 --> 00:11:15,164 I'm gonna make it." 124 00:11:15,408 --> 00:11:16,636 And I get all the way to shore. 125 00:11:16,876 --> 00:11:19,538 So when I got on the shore, I tried to get out of the boat, 126 00:11:19,779 --> 00:11:21,076 I couldn't move my legs. 127 00:11:21,313 --> 00:11:23,474 I was totally paralyzed from the hips down. 128 00:11:23,716 --> 00:11:26,810 I just threw myself over in the boat into the water. 129 00:11:27,053 --> 00:11:28,953 My stuff dumps out into the water. 130 00:11:29,188 --> 00:11:31,588 I pull myself out of the boat, and didn't bother with it; 131 00:11:31,824 --> 00:11:33,348 it floated off a ways from me. 132 00:11:33,592 --> 00:11:39,087 And I literally clawed my way to my car. 133 00:11:50,876 --> 00:11:55,973 When I got to the car, I had a problem getting the key in the door, 134 00:11:56,215 --> 00:11:59,616 and my car happened to have an idiosyncracy about opening up, 135 00:11:59,852 --> 00:12:01,752 but fortunately it opened for me. 136 00:12:01,987 --> 00:12:05,650 I dragged myself up into the car, pulled myself onto the seat. 137 00:12:05,891 --> 00:12:12,160 Then I found out I couldn't drive. It's a stick shift. 138 00:12:13,833 --> 00:12:17,132 So I had to grab my right leg, pull it in, put it on the accelerator, 139 00:12:17,369 --> 00:12:20,202 grab my left leg, pull it in on the clutch. 140 00:12:20,439 --> 00:12:25,672 I pushed the clutch in, started the car, gave it some gas. 141 00:12:25,911 --> 00:12:29,438 And I was able to twist and pull it down and I popped the clutch. 142 00:12:29,682 --> 00:12:34,619 I kept it in first gear and I tore off down the road towards help 143 00:12:34,854 --> 00:12:37,084 not being able to shift, so I was in first gear, 144 00:12:37,323 --> 00:12:41,623 going, "Rrrrrr," down the road. 145 00:12:42,027 --> 00:12:44,962 The few minutes it took to drive to Survey Headquarters 146 00:12:45,197 --> 00:12:47,893 were an endless nightmare. 147 00:12:48,134 --> 00:12:49,692 All I could do is just turn the key off and let it, 148 00:12:49,935 --> 00:12:52,563 "Chugchugchug" to a stop, open the door. 149 00:12:52,805 --> 00:12:57,674 And then I had to let myself down onto the pavement. 150 00:12:58,878 --> 00:13:03,781 The pain was like salt poured in an open wound, 151 00:13:04,016 --> 00:13:10,182 and worse, he was growing weaker and weaker. 152 00:13:10,422 --> 00:13:14,256 No longer able to drag himself over the hot knobby pavement, 153 00:13:14,493 --> 00:13:19,931 he had to roll in order to move, but he couldn't roll in a straight line. 154 00:13:20,166 --> 00:13:24,865 So he plotted a circle across the burning parking lot to his last, 155 00:13:25,104 --> 00:13:29,871 best chance for survival. 156 00:13:35,815 --> 00:13:42,846 Means reached his destination only to discover that his ordeal had just begun. 157 00:13:50,229 --> 00:13:51,696 Nearly an hour had passed 158 00:13:51,931 --> 00:13:56,800 since the rattler sank its fangs in Bruce Means's hand, 159 00:13:57,169 --> 00:14:03,039 and now the scientist was discovering that the cure was as bad as the bite. 160 00:14:03,375 --> 00:14:07,436 Twentysix vials of antivenin were pumped into his veins 161 00:14:07,680 --> 00:14:10,672 to stem the tide of the snake's poison. 162 00:14:10,916 --> 00:14:13,942 But the medicine proved an even more lethal toxin, 163 00:14:14,186 --> 00:14:17,178 because Means was allergic to it. 164 00:14:17,590 --> 00:14:19,854 People around me could see the twitching that goes on 165 00:14:20,092 --> 00:14:22,720 a thing called muscular fasciculation. 166 00:14:22,962 --> 00:14:24,987 The hair follicles around the mouth 167 00:14:25,231 --> 00:14:28,758 and I'm fully bearded move in a circular motion. 168 00:14:29,001 --> 00:14:33,267 My whole face was involved in these strange rhythmical movements of the skin, 169 00:14:33,505 --> 00:14:38,408 which are characteristic of Eastern diamondback snake bites. 170 00:14:40,813 --> 00:14:45,682 He spent ten days hovering between recovery and death, 171 00:14:45,918 --> 00:14:52,050 often in intensive care, as his body rebelled against the antivenin. 172 00:14:52,291 --> 00:14:53,485 But he survived. 173 00:14:53,726 --> 00:14:56,923 And less than 24 hours after he left the hospital, 174 00:14:57,162 --> 00:15:03,101 he was back at work, back to the snakes that nearly killed him. 175 00:15:03,335 --> 00:15:05,462 What is the allure? 176 00:15:05,704 --> 00:15:12,166 Why is Means willing to risk the snake's fatal attraction? 177 00:15:12,745 --> 00:15:14,610 You know, this is a magnificent creature. 178 00:15:14,847 --> 00:15:18,248 It's at the pinnacle of evolution and we know so little about it. 179 00:15:18,484 --> 00:15:23,319 Apart from its beauty and its mystery, it has a rightful place in nature. 180 00:15:23,555 --> 00:15:25,318 And now, it's at risk. 181 00:15:25,557 --> 00:15:29,391 It's actually a very benign creature. 182 00:15:29,628 --> 00:15:31,687 It likes to lie coiled up and hidden waiting for food and, 183 00:15:31,931 --> 00:15:34,491 once in a rare while, for a mate. 184 00:15:45,878 --> 00:15:51,874 The survival of the Eastern diamondback depends on bogs like this 185 00:15:52,117 --> 00:15:55,382 and on these dwindling stands of longleaf pines, 186 00:15:55,621 --> 00:15:58,818 a once vast torrent of forest that tumbled south 187 00:15:59,058 --> 00:16:04,257 and west from Virginia to Texas. 188 00:16:04,496 --> 00:16:09,331 These lofty but threatened woodlands sustain an immense web of wildlife 189 00:16:09,568 --> 00:16:14,596 and are the keystone to the Eastern diamondback's survival. 190 00:16:24,984 --> 00:16:28,647 The powerful connection between the pines and the diamondbacks 191 00:16:28,887 --> 00:16:34,382 was little understood when Bruce Means arrived in Florida's woodlands. 192 00:16:34,626 --> 00:16:38,858 The snake was feared and hunted, but never studied. 193 00:16:39,098 --> 00:16:40,861 More than 20 years ago, 194 00:16:41,100 --> 00:16:43,466 Means pioneered the use of radio signals 195 00:16:43,702 --> 00:16:47,263 to track the Eastern diamondback's behavior. 196 00:16:47,506 --> 00:16:51,033 He carefully introduced a harmless, mousesized transmitter 197 00:16:51,276 --> 00:16:57,044 into the sedated snakes, which beamed their whereabouts. 198 00:16:57,282 --> 00:17:03,312 In summer, he combs the forests for his latest subject. 199 00:17:03,555 --> 00:17:06,922 At this point, sometimes I get so close that I can't see them. 200 00:17:07,159 --> 00:17:09,320 They're camouflaged very well in the grass. 201 00:17:09,828 --> 00:17:12,092 I have to be very careful I don't step on one. 202 00:17:12,564 --> 00:17:15,556 Ah, there it is. Whew! A big one. 203 00:17:16,068 --> 00:17:18,798 Little head. Whoa! Big body. 204 00:17:20,406 --> 00:17:23,842 Hello? Who are you? 205 00:17:24,209 --> 00:17:27,770 Whoa, is he heavy. Look at the size. Oh! 206 00:17:32,551 --> 00:17:37,989 This is a big snake, but it's not nearly as big as rattlesnakes 207 00:17:38,223 --> 00:17:41,158 get the Eastern diamondback. 208 00:17:41,393 --> 00:17:47,195 This guy is about four and a half feet long and I would estimate 209 00:17:47,433 --> 00:17:52,336 about five and a half to six pounds in weight. 210 00:17:52,571 --> 00:17:55,404 They come a lot bigger. 211 00:17:55,808 --> 00:17:59,209 A ten pound snake, is not uncommon, which would be almost twice his bulk. 212 00:18:00,112 --> 00:18:05,243 And I've known of 12 and 13pound snakes. 213 00:18:06,385 --> 00:18:09,946 The next thing I need to do is be sure that I don't endanger myself 214 00:18:10,189 --> 00:18:13,386 and also that I am careful not to cause him to hurt himself, 215 00:18:13,625 --> 00:18:19,689 so I'll partially narcotize him by putting an inhalant 216 00:18:19,932 --> 00:18:25,302 and it'll take about five minutes for him to become totally placid. 217 00:18:25,537 --> 00:18:27,971 I'm not going to put him entirely out. 218 00:18:28,207 --> 00:18:30,539 And then we can work with him. 219 00:18:30,776 --> 00:18:34,974 Let's see how he's doing. Yeah. 220 00:18:35,214 --> 00:18:40,550 What is important here is I know he's under sufficiently 221 00:18:40,786 --> 00:18:44,187 for me to work with him when he's lost his writhing response, 222 00:18:44,423 --> 00:18:46,391 which you see him lying on his back now. 223 00:18:46,625 --> 00:18:47,887 Now he's not out. 224 00:18:48,127 --> 00:18:49,594 I have to be quite careful with him, anyway, 225 00:18:49,828 --> 00:19:00,204 but he's probably out sufficiently for me to flip him over and then capture him. 226 00:19:03,942 --> 00:19:07,378 Alright, notice he's not thrashing. 227 00:19:07,613 --> 00:19:13,552 He would be doing that were he not somewhat groggy. 228 00:19:13,785 --> 00:19:15,810 So the first thing I do is get a measurement 229 00:19:16,054 --> 00:19:23,722 and he is 120 millimeters is now rattle length. 230 00:19:23,962 --> 00:19:28,661 And his tailnow that rattling indicates he's not, 231 00:19:28,901 --> 00:19:34,339 he's quickly coming out of his narcosis, but I have his head in my hand. 232 00:19:34,573 --> 00:19:39,772 So it's 1200 millimeters in length and 120 tail, 233 00:19:40,012 --> 00:19:44,745 that's about 10 percent of the body length, which is about right for a male. 234 00:19:44,983 --> 00:19:50,546 Females have about 10 percent less tail length. 235 00:19:50,789 --> 00:19:51,551 This is a young snake. 236 00:19:51,790 --> 00:19:54,759 This animal may only be in his third year of life. 237 00:19:54,993 --> 00:19:56,051 That's amazing. 238 00:19:56,295 --> 00:20:01,096 A lot of people don't realize a snake that big could be a juvenile. 239 00:20:01,333 --> 00:20:04,928 But this one's probably just sexually mature. 240 00:20:05,170 --> 00:20:11,507 Could you imagine what one twice that size in volume would look like? 241 00:20:11,743 --> 00:20:12,607 The Eastern diamondback 242 00:20:12,844 --> 00:20:16,336 really represents the epitome of snake evolution. 243 00:20:16,582 --> 00:20:19,107 And there are several reasons for that. 244 00:20:19,351 --> 00:20:24,846 One is that it has this remarkable heatsensitive pit right there, 245 00:20:25,090 --> 00:20:27,854 which is an advancement among snakes. 246 00:20:28,093 --> 00:20:34,828 Another, of course, is this elaborate venom and fang apparatus. 247 00:20:35,067 --> 00:20:40,437 The venom is a complex liqueur having several different proteins in it 248 00:20:40,672 --> 00:20:43,470 8 to 10 and, depending on the species, more. 249 00:20:43,709 --> 00:20:45,734 Each one of those proteins has various functions. 250 00:20:45,978 --> 00:20:47,036 Many of them are enzymes. 251 00:20:47,279 --> 00:20:50,271 They break down the tissue or in the case of the Eastern diamondback, 252 00:20:50,515 --> 00:20:53,712 it actually has quite a bit of nerve attacking components in its venom. 253 00:20:54,453 --> 00:20:58,116 So the initial use that the venom is put to is to immobilize its prey, 254 00:20:58,357 --> 00:21:01,383 so it doesn't go too far away and the snake can go find it. 255 00:21:01,827 --> 00:21:06,560 The snake employs its fierce weapons with surgical precision. 256 00:21:11,570 --> 00:21:15,734 And it strikes with lightening speed. 257 00:21:20,145 --> 00:21:23,205 Its jaws are lashed by sinew and powerful muscles 258 00:21:23,448 --> 00:21:27,384 that snap open the fangs like a switchblade. 259 00:21:29,354 --> 00:21:31,948 Sacks similar to salivary glands pump the venom 260 00:21:32,190 --> 00:21:36,058 through hollow channels just like a hypodermic needle. 261 00:21:36,295 --> 00:21:40,356 Though the bite is instantaneous, the snake pumps its venom several times 262 00:21:40,599 --> 00:21:45,400 to force a lethal dose into its victim. 263 00:21:53,812 --> 00:22:00,809 After locating its prey, the snake begins the laborious process of feeding. 264 00:22:01,053 --> 00:22:04,853 And it always starts with the head. 265 00:22:06,391 --> 00:22:08,256 First one half of the jaw, 266 00:22:08,493 --> 00:22:12,259 then the other walk along the prey as it is ingested. 267 00:22:12,497 --> 00:22:16,263 Small sharp teeth in the palate and lower jaw curve backward 268 00:22:16,501 --> 00:22:20,198 sliding over the food, pulling it in. 269 00:22:20,439 --> 00:22:22,669 The body moves forward like an accordion 270 00:22:22,908 --> 00:22:27,140 as muscles in the throat draw the prey down. 271 00:22:27,379 --> 00:22:29,404 A full grown snake could survive for a year 272 00:22:30,048 --> 00:22:32,141 on three or four lunches like this one. 273 00:22:35,821 --> 00:22:38,881 Though bitten and nearly killed by the Eastern diamondback, 274 00:22:39,124 --> 00:22:41,615 Means says his research makes plain 275 00:22:41,860 --> 00:22:45,296 the snake doesn't deserve its menacing reputation. 276 00:22:45,530 --> 00:22:48,988 The Eastern diamondback rattlesnake is not a sinister animal. 277 00:22:49,234 --> 00:22:51,566 A lot of people might think that. 278 00:22:51,803 --> 00:22:57,002 They rely on several mechanisms to avoid your presence. 279 00:22:57,242 --> 00:22:58,641 The first is camouflage. 280 00:22:58,877 --> 00:23:01,175 There's a rattlesnake close by. 281 00:23:01,413 --> 00:23:04,940 Normally you can't see the snake, becausewell, I know where it is 282 00:23:05,183 --> 00:23:08,346 but he's hidden in the grass and they're very difficult to see, 283 00:23:08,587 --> 00:23:11,385 so the rattlesnake is not rattling. 284 00:23:11,623 --> 00:23:12,612 And they don't want to rattle 285 00:23:12,858 --> 00:23:13,984 because they don't want to attract your attention. 286 00:23:14,226 --> 00:23:15,818 Human beings will go over and kill it. 287 00:23:16,061 --> 00:23:19,189 But watch what happens if I walk slowly towards the snake, 288 00:23:20,298 --> 00:23:26,897 and it perceives that I'm aware of it, which it does now, 289 00:23:27,139 --> 00:23:28,504 you can hear it rattling. 290 00:23:28,740 --> 00:23:33,507 This snake doesn't have a huge rattle string, but he's beginning to rattle. 291 00:23:33,745 --> 00:23:36,077 In fact, he's not rattling a lot. 292 00:23:36,314 --> 00:23:39,010 This is a very complacent animal. 293 00:23:39,251 --> 00:23:43,085 I might have to be a little more threatening. 294 00:23:43,321 --> 00:23:45,585 You see that he's orienting to me, as I walk around him, 295 00:23:45,824 --> 00:23:47,917 his head's turning. 296 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:51,755 Oh, this guy's quite complacent. 297 00:23:53,365 --> 00:23:58,928 He can stick and reach me if he were to strike now. 298 00:23:59,171 --> 00:24:01,435 Now if I back away from him, 299 00:24:01,673 --> 00:24:05,473 he'll stop rattling, which he's done. 300 00:24:05,710 --> 00:24:12,172 Generally, they rely on camouflage. 301 00:24:13,652 --> 00:24:18,385 Interestingly, I touched the snake to stimulate it, 302 00:24:18,623 --> 00:24:22,150 it did jump, but it still didn't strike me. 303 00:24:22,394 --> 00:24:25,522 And it'll probably strike at this point. 304 00:24:25,764 --> 00:24:30,633 Look at that. It did sort of lethargically as I passed it. 305 00:24:31,002 --> 00:24:34,165 This is sort of the common, average behavior of the Eastern diamondback. 306 00:24:34,406 --> 00:24:38,069 Some will strike, but in general most of them don't. 307 00:24:38,310 --> 00:24:40,175 They're not the sinister animal that people think. 308 00:24:40,412 --> 00:24:42,175 And they by no means chase people. 309 00:24:42,414 --> 00:24:44,109 They don't go after you. 310 00:24:44,349 --> 00:24:46,214 So how can you loathe an animal 311 00:24:46,451 --> 00:24:50,080 that really doesn't have dirty deeds in its heart? 312 00:25:03,268 --> 00:25:11,403 August is a brief but crucial passage for the Eastern diamondback. 313 00:25:11,743 --> 00:25:15,975 Males are on the move now trailing the pheromones of females. 314 00:25:16,214 --> 00:25:23,586 More than ever, the males are out in the open and exposed to danger. 315 00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:32,025 The females are less restless during this time, 316 00:25:32,264 --> 00:25:38,760 awaiting a mate or preparing to give birth near the safety of a burrow. 317 00:25:45,277 --> 00:25:50,374 Birds of prey are the curse of the diamondback. 318 00:25:55,887 --> 00:26:01,553 From the treetops, a redtailed hawk can spy a snake a half a mile away. 319 00:26:06,197 --> 00:26:09,633 A pregnant diamondback, storing fat for the dozen young 320 00:26:09,868 --> 00:26:14,703 maturing inside her body, would make for a feast. 321 00:26:16,007 --> 00:26:18,635 Sensing danger overhead sends the tortoise 322 00:26:18,877 --> 00:26:25,476 and the pregnant rattler down into the safety of the burrow. 323 00:26:38,830 --> 00:26:49,900 The hawk is undaunted and the male is still in the open. 324 00:26:58,917 --> 00:27:01,351 Its talons over fangs. 325 00:27:03,955 --> 00:27:08,358 The hawk dances gingerly around its dangerous prey. 326 00:27:20,872 --> 00:27:27,277 The victor shrouds its victim from intruders. 327 00:27:27,512 --> 00:27:32,006 For this rattler, the mating game is over. 328 00:27:48,233 --> 00:27:50,565 The gopher tortoise's well engineered burrow 329 00:27:50,802 --> 00:27:56,570 is both a safe haven and a refuge. 330 00:27:57,642 --> 00:28:01,806 The tunnel usually slopes some six feet underground, 331 00:28:02,047 --> 00:28:06,006 but an ambitious turtle will tunnel 30 feet or more. 332 00:28:06,951 --> 00:28:12,617 Over time, as many as 350 creatures may come and go as tenants here. 333 00:28:16,394 --> 00:28:21,764 The gopher frog calls this hole in the ground home. 334 00:28:22,434 --> 00:28:28,771 Like the tortoise, it's cold blooded and so it's safe from the diamondback. 335 00:28:32,243 --> 00:28:37,909 The sheepishlooking gesture is really a reflex protecting its delicate eyes. 336 00:28:43,288 --> 00:28:49,523 The barging gopher tortoise leaves no doubt who is landlord of this burrow. 337 00:28:52,464 --> 00:28:54,489 He bulldozes past the other tenants 338 00:28:54,733 --> 00:28:59,136 who are preparing to head out into the night. 339 00:29:14,285 --> 00:29:17,618 Though the turtle's tunnel is little more than a narrow hallway, 340 00:29:17,856 --> 00:29:19,824 the warmblooded Florida Mouse 341 00:29:20,058 --> 00:29:24,518 occupies a oneroom apartment dug into the wall. 342 00:29:26,197 --> 00:29:32,329 It's tiny, keyholesized entryway keeps out the big diamondback. 343 00:29:32,570 --> 00:29:35,095 Though coming and going is still a risk, 344 00:29:35,340 --> 00:29:38,867 she and the snake tend to keep different hours. 345 00:29:39,110 --> 00:29:45,481 The diamondback usually hunts by day and the Florida mouse is nocturnal. 346 00:29:53,958 --> 00:29:55,425 In the warmest months, 347 00:29:55,660 --> 00:30:04,432 the Eastern diamondback may stay out after hours, but not to hunt. 348 00:30:05,336 --> 00:30:12,333 Instead, it will find a spot to curl up and wait out the night. 349 00:30:28,626 --> 00:30:31,094 As the orange light of day parts the clouds, 350 00:30:31,329 --> 00:30:37,734 the diamondback nestles motionless at the base of a tree. 351 00:30:37,969 --> 00:30:45,307 Rattlers are ambush hunters, using patience, stillness and stealth. 352 00:30:48,713 --> 00:30:52,444 A family of squirrels ventures out into the day, 353 00:30:52,684 --> 00:30:57,144 unaware of the deadly interloper nearby. 354 00:31:45,970 --> 00:31:50,430 The fleeing squirrel has moments to live. 355 00:31:50,675 --> 00:31:58,707 No matter where the squirrel dies, the snake will find it. 356 00:31:58,950 --> 00:32:02,408 I know when I was bitten, my body fell apart. 357 00:32:02,654 --> 00:32:05,214 As big as I am, I had a chance. 358 00:32:05,456 --> 00:32:12,157 But for a small creature like the squirrel, it's all over in an instant. 359 00:32:12,664 --> 00:32:17,124 How the snake tracks its wounded prey is not yet clear. 360 00:32:17,502 --> 00:32:21,370 Means thinks a stricken animal gives off a special scent, 361 00:32:21,606 --> 00:32:28,102 a unique signature that distinguishes it. 362 00:32:35,853 --> 00:32:43,521 Food goes down headfirst, so the feet fold easily through the gaping jaws. 363 00:32:53,571 --> 00:32:56,301 The diamondback gets its meal, 364 00:33:00,712 --> 00:33:06,275 and there will be no more tales of alarm from this squirrel. 365 00:33:20,064 --> 00:33:23,397 The diamondback brought a subtle advantage to its encounter 366 00:33:23,634 --> 00:33:29,334 with the squirrel, a sixth sense, hunting through its heat sensing pits. 367 00:33:29,574 --> 00:33:35,570 Means wants to understand the world as the snake perceives it. 368 00:33:35,813 --> 00:33:39,146 The growing tip of the longleaf pine is warm. 369 00:33:39,384 --> 00:33:42,217 That's interesting. 370 00:33:42,453 --> 00:33:46,947 A pioneer in research, he has embarked on a new series of experiments. 371 00:33:47,191 --> 00:33:54,063 He uses a thermal camera to reveal a world invisible to humans, 372 00:33:54,298 --> 00:33:59,895 a world of heat radiating all around us. 373 00:34:07,545 --> 00:34:12,141 Here is my imprint of my hand, right on the ground, 374 00:34:12,383 --> 00:34:15,079 where you can see nothing but leaves with the naked eye. 375 00:34:15,319 --> 00:34:18,550 It's absolutely different. 376 00:34:19,123 --> 00:34:26,689 Now for an experiment, I have brought a cute little laboratory rat. 377 00:34:26,931 --> 00:34:29,297 Good morning you cute little rat. 378 00:34:29,534 --> 00:34:32,128 Are you ready to be a star? 379 00:34:32,370 --> 00:34:33,428 We're gonna put him down on the ground 380 00:34:33,671 --> 00:34:38,574 to see what he looks like through this infrared camera. 381 00:34:39,343 --> 00:34:44,042 Alright, Mr. Rat, wander around. 382 00:34:44,282 --> 00:34:47,046 Whoa! This is fantastic. 383 00:34:50,688 --> 00:34:53,156 The thermal camera dramatically shows 384 00:34:53,391 --> 00:34:59,057 how heat from the warmblooded mouse strips it of both cover and camouflage. 385 00:35:03,534 --> 00:35:07,231 While no one knows what the snake actually perceives, 386 00:35:07,472 --> 00:35:11,499 the camera offers visual evidence of the Eastern diamondback's advantage 387 00:35:11,742 --> 00:35:16,907 in hunting warmblooded prey. 388 00:35:17,148 --> 00:35:23,144 For the Eastern diamondback, heat is an allyand in surprising ways. 389 00:35:33,898 --> 00:35:37,595 Lightning is as common to Florida as coastline, 390 00:35:37,835 --> 00:35:43,865 and the bolts become firebrands setting the forest aflame. 391 00:35:46,010 --> 00:35:48,808 The snake depends on these fires, 392 00:35:49,046 --> 00:35:51,640 because they sustain the longleaf pine forest, 393 00:35:51,883 --> 00:35:55,683 the diamondback's principal habitat. 394 00:35:55,920 --> 00:36:01,085 Fire burns out underbrush, allowing for new growth. 395 00:36:17,074 --> 00:36:20,771 The diamondback is well adapted to these fiery conditions 396 00:36:21,012 --> 00:36:25,813 and seeks refuge from the flames. 397 00:36:33,925 --> 00:36:37,918 This cotton mouth was not so lucky. 398 00:36:41,465 --> 00:36:48,871 There are the quick and the dead and the well adapted. 399 00:37:02,453 --> 00:37:09,256 After the fire, a mosaic of ash and old growth patch the earth. 400 00:37:09,994 --> 00:37:14,624 A turtle navigates the embers trying to find food. 401 00:37:35,753 --> 00:37:40,087 Within a few days, fresh greens will have punched through the ashes 402 00:37:40,324 --> 00:37:44,727 and new palmetto sprays will have fanned out. 403 00:37:46,764 --> 00:37:49,961 This is the miracle of the longleaf pine forest. 404 00:37:50,201 --> 00:37:57,698 Here the role of fire is not to kill; it's to rejuvenate. 405 00:38:11,055 --> 00:38:17,324 Even tortoises seem to sprout from the soil after a fire 406 00:38:20,665 --> 00:38:25,034 newborns hungry for the green shoots. 407 00:38:44,255 --> 00:38:48,919 August in the piney woods is a season of upheaval. 408 00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:53,563 And the pregnant diamondback feels it most. 409 00:38:54,065 --> 00:38:56,863 A month before labor she hunkers down, 410 00:38:57,101 --> 00:39:01,435 feeding stops, movement stops for the most part. 411 00:39:10,614 --> 00:39:13,549 Labor lasts 12 exhausting hours, 412 00:39:13,784 --> 00:39:19,882 as she gives birth to a clutch of a dozen little diamondbacks. 413 00:39:23,494 --> 00:39:27,521 Though the young are carried within her body and born live, 414 00:39:27,765 --> 00:39:31,098 they hatch from sacks identical to eggs 415 00:39:31,335 --> 00:39:39,435 but without the finishing touch the shell. 416 00:39:40,644 --> 00:39:45,638 From the beginning, young rattlers can deliver a lethal dose of venom 417 00:39:45,916 --> 00:39:50,512 and soon bear the first button of their baby rattle. 418 00:39:51,522 --> 00:39:55,117 Conventional wisdom says snakes don't make good mothers. 419 00:39:55,359 --> 00:39:58,419 But Means believes Eastern diamondbacks may. 420 00:39:59,130 --> 00:40:03,794 The mother stays close to the clutch in the first crucial days of life, 421 00:40:04,034 --> 00:40:09,165 although the reason may simply be exhaustion. 422 00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:21,375 Deadly as the diamondback may be, they grow into a world of treachery. 423 00:40:21,619 --> 00:40:28,354 Few survive their first year, for danger lurks in every direction 424 00:40:28,592 --> 00:40:34,622 even from other snakes. 425 00:40:34,865 --> 00:40:38,266 The kingsnake is known as a muscular hunter 426 00:40:38,502 --> 00:40:46,773 a constrictor that kills by suffocating its prey. 427 00:40:56,220 --> 00:41:01,351 Tongueflicks sample the air. 428 00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:19,033 The diamondback senses a dangerous foe the kingsnake, dinner. 429 00:41:34,358 --> 00:41:38,454 The kingsnake gets its name because it eats other snakes 430 00:41:38,696 --> 00:41:43,190 and it's immune to its opponent's venom. 431 00:41:43,434 --> 00:41:46,232 Pinning the diamondback in its corkscrew coils, 432 00:41:46,470 --> 00:41:54,639 it crushes its victim, than swallows it whole. 433 00:42:15,432 --> 00:42:34,410 It leaves the trophy till last. 434 00:42:38,989 --> 00:42:45,417 More treacherous than the snake's natural predatorsthe commercial hunter. 435 00:42:45,696 --> 00:42:51,965 While against the law, practices like this go on to this day. 436 00:42:57,508 --> 00:43:05,677 Hunters are paid $10 a foot for diamondbacks, as much as $60 a snake. 437 00:43:05,916 --> 00:43:09,113 Outwitted, the rattler is lured into betraying itself 438 00:43:09,353 --> 00:43:20,196 with its last line of defense. 439 00:43:20,598 --> 00:43:24,898 The hunter listens for the telltale rattle. 440 00:43:32,610 --> 00:43:36,774 A spray of gasoline chokes the burrow. 441 00:43:40,818 --> 00:43:44,811 The snake is desperate to escape the fumes 442 00:43:45,055 --> 00:43:56,432 and abandons the sanctuary of the tunnel, winding up in a bucket. 443 00:44:02,506 --> 00:44:08,604 The burrow that had harbored so much life may now become a wasteland. 444 00:44:08,846 --> 00:44:13,249 No one knows how long the gas fumes may linger. 445 00:44:13,484 --> 00:44:18,319 If the snakes are not killed outright, 446 00:44:18,555 --> 00:44:21,956 many are brought to rattlesnake roundups, 447 00:44:22,192 --> 00:44:27,357 which have been entertaining audiences for decades. 448 00:44:27,598 --> 00:44:29,862 It's 39 years we've had this roundup. 449 00:44:30,100 --> 00:44:32,159 It's a way of controlling the snakes down in this country. 450 00:44:32,403 --> 00:44:33,927 And I don't really know if it has that much of an impact, 451 00:44:34,171 --> 00:44:36,298 but we seem to get a lot of snakes every year. 452 00:44:37,608 --> 00:44:40,907 Each year, Eastern diamondbacks are captured for roundups 453 00:44:41,145 --> 00:44:44,205 that attract crowds as large as 25,000. 454 00:44:44,882 --> 00:44:47,442 That's essentially a diamond there. 455 00:44:48,052 --> 00:44:50,179 Yeah, we come up here for rattlesnake burgers. 456 00:44:50,421 --> 00:44:51,911 They tell us they're really good. 457 00:44:52,156 --> 00:44:53,214 Yeah, you know I had to say chicken. Chicken? 458 00:44:53,457 --> 00:44:56,893 Then I said take the alligator too. 459 00:44:59,029 --> 00:45:01,930 People want to cook them, kill them and wear them. 460 00:45:02,166 --> 00:45:05,363 They even want their venom, which the roundups milk at bargain prices 461 00:45:05,602 --> 00:45:12,064 for medical researchers. 462 00:45:12,309 --> 00:45:16,302 Means attends roundups to take a head count of the rattlers, 463 00:45:16,547 --> 00:45:21,382 trying to gauge the impact these events have on the Eastern diamondback. 464 00:45:21,618 --> 00:45:23,552 The snakes are treated badly. 465 00:45:23,787 --> 00:45:25,015 They're exploited for money, 466 00:45:25,255 --> 00:45:30,124 then killed, with no thought for them as a renewable resource. 467 00:45:32,396 --> 00:45:36,457 Worse than the roundup, says Means, is the skin trade. 468 00:45:36,700 --> 00:45:39,100 Hides become fashion. 469 00:45:39,336 --> 00:45:41,964 It is an ironic end for the Eastern diamondback, 470 00:45:42,206 --> 00:45:46,006 the magical camouflage that had hid the snake so well 471 00:45:46,243 --> 00:45:50,270 now calls attention to its wearer. 472 00:45:50,647 --> 00:45:53,946 This is out of control and needs much more regulation. 473 00:45:54,184 --> 00:45:57,551 Even alligators are licensed and tagged now. 474 00:45:57,788 --> 00:46:01,884 But dead diamondbacks, they're treated as party favors. 475 00:46:03,327 --> 00:46:08,094 Roundups give people the wrong message. 476 00:46:08,332 --> 00:46:11,961 The truth is these snakes are not expendable, they're not evil. 477 00:46:12,202 --> 00:46:15,330 People need to realize the value of what they're destroying. 478 00:46:15,572 --> 00:46:20,066 This is already a snake hard pressed to survive. 479 00:46:30,187 --> 00:46:35,454 But roundups and snake skin boots are just one threat. 480 00:46:35,692 --> 00:46:38,525 Humans keep upping the ante on the snake's future, 481 00:46:38,762 --> 00:46:41,287 and dangers are everywhere. 482 00:46:41,532 --> 00:46:45,332 In the summer, hot highways become killing gauntlets or worse 483 00:46:45,569 --> 00:46:51,030 burning barriers, cutting the snake off from its habitat. 484 00:46:56,446 --> 00:47:01,213 Little more than two percent of the rattlers' ancient territory remains. 485 00:47:01,852 --> 00:47:07,950 Humanity's pattern of destruction, the precious longleaf pinelands replaced 486 00:47:08,192 --> 00:47:15,496 by regiments of future two by fours, plowed over by agriculture, 487 00:47:15,732 --> 00:47:22,137 slashed apart by highways, and fragmented into withering islands, 488 00:47:22,372 --> 00:47:25,535 the leftovers of development. 489 00:47:25,776 --> 00:47:30,179 There may not be enough land left to the snake to sustain it, 490 00:47:30,414 --> 00:47:35,943 let alone provide a future. 491 00:47:41,158 --> 00:47:46,221 And as the snake goes, so go his neighbors. 492 00:47:49,533 --> 00:47:52,730 What the diamondback needs is a better image, 493 00:47:52,970 --> 00:47:56,030 more public relations, some fans. 494 00:47:56,273 --> 00:47:59,572 One of the roundups in the Eastern United States has done a wonderful job 495 00:47:59,810 --> 00:48:01,402 of this very sort of thing. 496 00:48:01,645 --> 00:48:03,169 They don't even call it a roundup anymore, 497 00:48:03,413 --> 00:48:04,812 because they do not roundup snakes. 498 00:48:05,048 --> 00:48:06,982 It's called a festival. 499 00:48:07,217 --> 00:48:08,343 And they are very frightened of people. 500 00:48:08,585 --> 00:48:10,052 If you come across one, he'll usually coil up, 501 00:48:10,287 --> 00:48:12,312 shake his tail, and back away from you. 502 00:48:12,556 --> 00:48:15,047 And they put emphasis on environmental education. 503 00:48:15,292 --> 00:48:18,352 They have just as many people that come to the festival. 504 00:48:18,595 --> 00:48:19,857 They'll crawl down in there and live there 505 00:48:20,097 --> 00:48:21,394 with the turtle and just stay there. 506 00:48:21,632 --> 00:48:22,792 Every now and then something will spook a rabbit, 507 00:48:23,033 --> 00:48:24,864 he'll run down the hole, he'll get a meal served to him like meal service. 508 00:48:25,102 --> 00:48:29,061 These civic organizations that are involved in running the festival 509 00:48:29,306 --> 00:48:32,434 in the communities generate just as much income as any of these roundups 510 00:48:32,676 --> 00:48:39,240 that put the accent on beautization and misuse of the creatures. 511 00:49:01,638 --> 00:49:07,372 It may be that it's already too late for the Eastern diamondback. 512 00:49:07,611 --> 00:49:10,273 While well adapted to the trials of nature, 513 00:49:10,514 --> 00:49:15,952 the torments of humans are pushing the rattler to its limit. 514 00:49:16,186 --> 00:49:19,986 Means fears that before we fully understand the snake's role 515 00:49:20,223 --> 00:49:23,818 in the environment, it may be gone. 516 00:49:24,061 --> 00:49:26,256 But even he acknowledges that the snakes 517 00:49:26,496 --> 00:49:32,332 have found some surprising ways to survive. 518 00:49:44,948 --> 00:49:54,482 Florida's torrents flood the lowlands and tiny streams become channels. 519 00:49:54,725 --> 00:50:02,427 Even the tortoise goes with the flow, if sometimes reluctantly. 520 00:50:05,802 --> 00:50:13,038 The hazards of the deep abound. 521 00:50:15,412 --> 00:50:17,243 Carried along on the stream, 522 00:50:17,481 --> 00:50:22,976 the hardpressed animals take with them the future. 523 00:50:30,127 --> 00:50:35,588 Means believes the snake's survival skills might help it endure. 524 00:50:35,832 --> 00:50:38,858 Swimming makes it mobile. 525 00:50:39,102 --> 00:50:42,799 Streams become highways, escape routes from the destruction 526 00:50:43,040 --> 00:50:48,376 caused by development, 527 00:50:48,612 --> 00:50:54,642 and these streams sometimes ferry snakes all the way out to sea. 528 00:50:54,885 --> 00:50:57,718 The Eastern diamondback island hops. 529 00:50:57,954 --> 00:51:01,287 It's been found way out as far as the The Dry Tortugas. 530 00:51:01,525 --> 00:51:06,622 That's about 120 miles from the Florida Coast. 531 00:51:06,863 --> 00:51:09,593 This could be the snake's salvation, but like everywhere else, 532 00:51:09,833 --> 00:51:17,262 the islands are prime real estate for development. 533 00:51:17,574 --> 00:51:20,839 Propelled far and fast beyond their normal range, 534 00:51:21,078 --> 00:51:27,313 the diamondbacks become pilgrims protected by their isolation. 535 00:51:32,923 --> 00:51:35,790 Where the snake's habitat is overrun by development, 536 00:51:36,026 --> 00:51:40,360 the flood carries survivors to another, more welcoming place, 537 00:51:40,597 --> 00:51:49,005 their distant island, though it may be full of fiddler crabs. 538 00:51:52,776 --> 00:51:56,769 Still, on his own, Means scours the barrier islands, 539 00:51:57,013 --> 00:52:01,916 studying the snakes in their remote habitats. 540 00:52:02,152 --> 00:52:06,646 The Eastern diamondback is likely to be an endangered species very soon. 541 00:52:06,890 --> 00:52:08,323 It has a special role in nature 542 00:52:08,558 --> 00:52:12,050 and it won't take much for it to be lost forever. 543 00:52:12,295 --> 00:52:22,500 The snake simply needs a place to live and the opportunity to survive. 544 00:52:24,474 --> 00:52:26,874 Even after 25 years of research, 545 00:52:27,110 --> 00:52:31,570 Means says his efforts remain a work in progress. 546 00:52:31,815 --> 00:52:35,478 What's clear is that the snake plays an essential role in nature, 547 00:52:35,719 --> 00:52:39,382 both as predator and prey. 548 00:52:39,623 --> 00:52:45,926 Means's aim is to help us know this animal before it's too late. 549 00:52:46,163 --> 00:52:50,566 It's my greatest wish that in my lifetime, 550 00:52:50,800 --> 00:52:52,495 I'll still be able to come to places like this 551 00:52:52,736 --> 00:52:54,704 and see the Eastern diamondback rattlesnake. 552 00:52:54,938 --> 00:52:58,339 I hope that continues. 553 00:53:00,277 --> 00:53:03,337 Bruce Means reminds us that the diamondback's rattle 554 00:53:03,580 --> 00:53:05,411 may be more than a threat, 555 00:53:05,649 --> 00:53:12,054 that it may have a deeper meaning, that nature is sending us a message, 556 00:53:12,289 --> 00:53:15,656 "Don't tread on me."