Would you have thought that a furry, gentle squirrel could stand its ground and fight a deadly, rattling killer snake? It very much does; in fact, it takes the supposedly suicidal stance of sand kicking, attacking and waving its tail to the snakes face, seemingly taunting a venom-fanged snake already bent on bloodshed.
The tiny creatures do not suddenly go mad with fear; in fact, they follow an age-old instinct, passed on by squirrel ancestors to protect their young. It is true that fear is an instinct of the mind and squirrels dispel their fear by attacking the snakes. Of course, they come armed; they seem to have partial immunity and infrared tails to protect them.
When confronted by a squirrel waving a “hot” tail over its head, northern Pacific rattlesnakes will often cease their predatory behavior and go on the defensive, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of California, Davis. The study finds that squirrels warm their tails by increasing blood flow from its body to the normally cooler tail region.
Adult squirrels, according to the study, are immune to rattlesnake venom; it is believed that they have a protein in their blood that allows them to survive the snake venom. Therefore, any confrontation between the snakes and the squirrels is likely to be a long-drawn-out one and could end up in the snake being harmed. Rattlesnakes tend to target young squirrels that have not developed immunity to their venom.
Its not that the squirrel’s tail in any way poses any real threat to a rattlesnake, it is just that rattlesnakes are highly sensitive to heat. The infrared sensors built into rattlesnakes’ eye sockets sense this increase in temperature immediately. What message does the snake get then? It fears that squirrel and others in the vicinity are likely to harass it.
Since snakes and squirrels share much common ground, such as burrows and bush, the squirrels are well endowed to protect themselves. Rattlesnakes use rattlers and squirrels their tails.
Source: National Geographic
