By Susan Milius
From Snowbird, Utah, at a meeting of the Animal Behavior Society
Several of the Northeast’s least ferocious forest creatures taunt rattlesnakes. In woodland-surveillance videos, scientists have watched chipmunks, gray squirrels, and a thrush lunge at and hop over the vipers.
Harassing of North American snakes had previously been reported along the West Coast (SN: 6/26/04, p. 403: Hot Bother: Ground squirrels taunt in infrared; 10/9/99, p. 237). California ground squirrels can survive snakebites as adults, but the pups can’t. If adults find a snake lurking near a burrow, they snap their tails and rush, nip, and kick sand at it. The harassed snake often leaves the scene.