In this video, we find out what’s inside a rattlesnake rattle to learn how rattlesnakes make noise. I thought they made noise like maracas, and have little bits inside of them that knock around, but I was wrong. Instead, rattlesnake rattles are composed of a number of different segments that nest together.
source.image: Odd Animal Specimens
The rattle serves as a warning for predators of the rattlesnake. The rattle is composed of a series of hollow, interlocked segments made of keratin, which are created by modifying the scales that cover the tip of the tail. The contraction of special “shaker” muscles in the tail causes these segments to vibrate against one another, thus making the rattling noise (which is amplified because the segments are hollow) in a behavior known as tail vibration. Watch the video from Odd Animal Specimens:
The muscles which cause rattling are some of the fastest known, firing 50 times per second on average, sustainable for a duration up to three hours. At birth, a “prebutton” is present at the tip of the snake’s tail; it is replaced by the “button” several days later when the first skin is shed.
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However, no sound can be made by the rattle until a second segment is added when the skin is shed again. A new rattle segment is added each time the snake sheds its skin, and the snake may shed its skin several times a year, depending on food supply and growth rate.
