Some experts say rattlesnakes are physically evolving to lose their rattles. 

Some theorists believed that long ago rattlesnakes had no rattle and they would shake their tails silently. The theory is that over the years the snakes developed a sound making rattle, made out of hollow keratin scales in their tails. Some experts say this evolution is now reversing itself.

One expert believes rattlesnakes have now started to evolve to lose their rattles in order to survive, they are harder to detect when silent. Their rattles act as a warning signal to potential victims and a beacon for predators to hunt them.  

“Less and less rattlesnakes are rattling,” explained Steve Reaves, the owner of a rattlesnake removal service in Arizona. Reaves says, “The theory is we’ve created a snake through killing the ones that do rattle, we’ve created a rattlesnake that doesn’t tend to rattle so much.”

It’s not that the snakes have stopped shaking their tails to not make the rattle sound, the physical structure of the rattle itself is changing to become silent.

Reaves says in some parts of the country rattlesnakes have completely lost their rattles and silent rattlesnakes are extra dangerous.

Photo by Duncan Sanchez from Unsplash