Today I Learned: Rattlesnakes Drink Water off Each Other’s Heads

50 Campfires

A new study published in the scientific journal Current Zoology describes a unique behavior that scientists observed among prairie rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis): drinking water off each other’s heads. You didn’t see that one coming, right? Me neither.

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Videos by Outdoors

Researchers note that organisms that live in arid environments, like rattlesnakes, sometimes have “unique adaptations to harvest water from infrequent and unpredictable rainfall.” During the study, scientists simulated rainfall and then recorded the behavior of 94 prairie rattlesnakes. They noted “novel features” of rain-harvesting behavior, including “suspended head drinking, body levering, and drinking from neighboring snakes,” the researchers wrote.

IFLScience shared a video from the scientists’ research showing this rain-harvesting behavior in action. At one point in the video, two rattlesnakes drink water from another one’s head, and now I’m wondering, will they return the favor?

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Watch rattlesnakes drink water off another rattlesnake’s head here:

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