[TN-Bird] Re: Fwd: RE: FW: Local Rattlesnakes
- From: Daniel Estabrooks <hyla514@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: tn-bird <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2011 21:00:47 -0700 (PDT)
Figured I'd add my two cents' worth, since I've done work with rattlesnakes in
Arizona and in Tennessee. Steve is correct on all counts, though I suspect that
the photo is not even real. Rattlesnakes are extremely heavy-bodied. I'm not
sure I could even hold a rattler that big on a hook. Admittedly, I'm pretty
slightly built, but that guy looks like his arms are barely even straining.
What's more damning, though, is the position that the snake is in. It is VERY
difficult to get even a small rattler to balance on a hook. You have to get
them almost exactly in the middle of the body or they'll slide off one way or
the other. (This is why most people who work with rattlers use tongs.) As you
can see from the photo, the hook is nowhere near the balance point. It's
possible that the picture was taken quickly before the snake fell off, but that
seems unlikely. Secondly, the curve in the snake's tail looks like it's still
moving. (Either the snake is still
moving under its own power or the guy is in the process of yanking it up when
the picture was taken.) And if the snake was still moving, that makes it even
more unlikely that it would balance.
All in all, looks like a PhotoShop job to me. I've seen two other pictures
making their way around the internet of snakes in almost identical poses, one
of which claims to be from Pennsylvania and one of which claims to be from
Tennessee. Both of those photos depict western diamond-backs, which also don't
occur in TN (though they are closer than the eastern diamond-backs).
Daniel
________________________________
From: Van Harris <shelbyforester1223@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: mzsdocents <mzsdocents@xxxxxxxxx>; tn-birds <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, September 18, 2011 4:42 PM
Subject: [TN-Bird] Fwd: RE: FW: Local Rattlesnakes
--- Begin forwarded message:
From: Steve Reichling <sreichling@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "'shelbyforester1223@xxxxxxxxxxxx'" <shelbyforester1223@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, John
F Holloway <jfhollow@xxxxxxxxxxx>
CC: Chris Baker <cbaker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, mzsdocents <mzsdocents@xxxxxxxxx>,
dick <dickpreston@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, tn-birds <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: FW: Local Rattlesnakes
Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2011 14:31:24 -0500
Van,
This is another of the endless line of internet exaggerations and
truth-bending. It is a real picture of an eastern diamondback rattlesnake
that, as you said, a moron has killed. But, it was killed in Florida, Alabama,
Georgia, or South Carolina where these are native, not Woodbury Tennessee –
that is the lie that was added to get people worked up. Second, the snake is a
big one but not anywhere near as big as the picture suggests. They way its
being held out far in front of the man exaggerates the size – I doubt it’s
bigger than 6 feet long – that’s the second lie someone inserted to work people
up. This pattern is repeated over and over and over – the real photo of a big
python, except it was found in Tanzania, not Bartlett, or the real photo of the
saltwater crocodile, except it was killed in Australia, not Ft. Lauderdale…
Steve.
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