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Response of western diamondback rattlesnakes Crotalus atrox to airborne sounds

Bruce A. Young^* and Amie Aguiar

Department of Biology, Lafayette College, Easton, PA 18042, USA

View larger version (18K): [in a new window]   Fig. 1. Auditory sensitivity curve. The curve for mean value was calculated by averaging all the frequency response curves (to airborne stimuli) presented by Wever (1978); the two curves for Crotalus viridis are taken from Wever (1978). The black rectangle represents the frequency and intensity of the stimuli presented during these experiments.

View larger version (31K): [in a new window]   Fig. 2. Response of an accelerometer located in the hanging basket to airborne sounds. (A) Synthesized sound with frequencies near 650 Hz; note the prominent resonance within the hanging basket; (B) trial stimulus presented to the live specimens; note the absence of resonance vibration in the hanging basket.

View larger version (21K): [in a new window]   Fig. 3. Summary of behavioural responses to the trial stimulus; responses are summed over three trials, each of eight specimens. (A) Incidence of body movement (black) defined as number of seconds (out of 10) during which the snake was in motion during the three periods and tongue flicks (stippled). Note that the `freeze' response produced a significant decline in movement during the trial period, and the significant decrease in tongue flicks. For an explanation, see text. (B) Incidence of head jerks (black) and rattling (stippled), note that both behaviours were only observed during the trial period leading to significant responses for both.

View larger version (13K): [in a new window]   Fig. 4. Total responses observed. A positive response was defined as the presence, during the trial period, of either rattling behavior, a head jerk, a decrease in the tongue flick rate, or a decrease in body movement.

View larger version (24K): [in a new window]   Fig. 5. Intraspecific variation in the response to airborne stimuli. The total number of positive responses are shown for each specimen (diagonal lines, body movement; vertical lines, tongue flicks; solid black, rattling; solid white, head jerks). Note the relationship between body movement and tongue flicks, the intraspecific variation in response, and the absence of a clear relationship between snake size and response.