Wild Rattlesnake Has No Idea That His Dinner Has A Secret Weapon
Although this little rodent may not appear to be much, appearances can be deceiving.
A sidewinder rattlesnake just discovered this while slithering through the desert in search of some meal.
The kangaroo rat, a little rodent, has a remarkable skill that has drawn the attention of a team of experts. They recently captured what is so unique about him on a hidden camera.
The researchers, who go by the name Ninjarat Team, told The Dodo that they are “exploring the natural behavior, morphology, and physiology of animals in order to acquire insight into the enormously complex biological systems that have evolved on our planet.” Kangaroo rats are especially fascinating since they have a variety of unusual adaptations that enable them to survive in harsh environments.
The short, slow-motion clip below best explains how the kangaroo rat can defend itself from predators in a particularly dramatic way. Kangaroo rats not only thrive in arid surroundings, but they also have the uncanny ability to do so.
A study on this incredible action has just been published by the researchers: They explained that when they jumped, the animals’ larger hindlimbs “powered vertical leaps that were many body lengths into the air, and these leaps were typically followed by mid-air kicks and other actions that discouraged snakes.”
The snake’s dinnertime intentions changed in a split second. The impressively advanced kangaroo rat vanished in an instant.
When the Ninjarat Team became interested in the sidewinder rattlesnake’s natural prey, they were initially studying the snake.
The researchers said, “We were puzzled by the capacity of kangaroo rats to survive rattlesnake bites without being damaged while examining the feeding ecology of sidewinder rattlesnakes. “The video we had suggested that the kangaroo rats might be able to ninja-kick the snakes while they were still striking was too fuzzy to be conclusive, so we began utilizing much [better] quality highspeed cameras to capture interactions. That is how we obtained the video.”
The Ninjarat Team wants to study more about how this ninja-like rodent arose after learning more about the kangaroo rat’s defense mechanism against predators.