Rattlesnake Deadly 60 Bites

On Deadly 60, I've had loads of incredible animal encounters.

Here's just one of my many favourites.

This is Deadly 60 Bites.

Today, we're in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona.

Despite what many people think about deserts being alive with snakes,

they can be quite shy of people and often very hard to find.

Luckily, though, we've got some Deadly 60 technology on our side.

Matt, talk us through how this works.

This antenna's directional,

so it'll tell you the strongest signals where the snake is.

-So if you listen, you can...

-BLEEPS

-It's a little louder that way.

-It does seem stronger in that direction.

Perfect. I'm following you.

I should point out that this isn't just a magic snake-finding device.

All the animals we'll be looking for have been caught

and implanted with a radio transmitter

about the size of my little finger.

That's the signal we're trying to pick up now.

'So this is what we're looking for.

'Rattlesnakes are the classic desert predator,

'arguably the most sophisticated snake on the planet,

'with hinged fangs, a superfast strike

'and an amazing sense of smell.

'This is the animal most people try and avoid.

'Even with this technology, it won't be easy finding a rattler,

'and with the temperature soaring to over 35 degrees,

'the crew are really having to work hard.

'While we sweat it out on the search,

'take a look at the demo me and the crew did

'to show you how the rattlesnake is such an effective killer.

'But to do this, we need to turn the lights out.'

This is a thermal imaging camera.

It actually picks up the heat generated by objects around you.

So things like...

this cactus here.

Obviously cactus have an awful lot of water in them,

and all that water is still quite warm,

so the cactus stands out beautifully

against the black of the sky.

And if I turn this onto the camera crew...

And Johnny, the cameraman,

the camera's dark,

and his head is almost white.

So, got a foxy bit of kit. Let's go see what we can find.

'This detection of heat is exactly how a rattlesnake

'is able to see its prey in the dark.

'It has supersensitive heat sensors

'on its face that pick up the heat given off from its prey's body,

'allowing the snake to catch its supper

'in the pitch black of night.'

A good-sized rat is eyeing me up from the rocks in front of me.

You can see the warmth generated by his body heat.

His eyes, particularly, seem to be very hot.

I'm being watched very intently

from no more than about ten feet away,

by a very bright pair of yellow eyes.

This is an Elf Owl.

He's probably...

no more than about that high, I'm guessing.

He is beautiful.

'This is exactly what a rattlesnake would see

'if it was looking at this owl.

'Now let's turn the lights back on and see if we can find one.'

Ow!

Some of these cactus could be well over 100 years old.

Even older than Nick, our sound man.

STEVE LAUGHS

There's a lot of reasons why reptiles do so well in dry desert environments like this.

Firstly, being so-called cold-blooded,

they get their energy from the sun, and there's plenty of that here.

Also, they have remarkable watertight skin,

so they don't sweat or lose any water to the outside environment.

They have the ability, in times when there's not much food around,

to just lie around and do nothing,

and, in extreme cases, even hibernate.

That one is a snake.

'Matt's locked on to a signal from a rattlesnake.

'We're getting close and we need to be really careful where we tread.'

-Where?

-You see him?

OK, he's right there? Good.

Perfect.

If you can get him on the first shot, that's good.

One fell swoop.

Come around the other side now.

RATTLING

Listen to that!

That is THE sound of the Sonoran Desert.

RATTLING

Let's get him out in the open where we can look at him.

RATTLING

Listen to that rattle!

LOUD RATTLING

That wonderful sound is really the signature sound of the desert.

You hear it in all the Western movies.

Interlocking segments of keratin,

the same substance that's in our fingernails,

rattle together and create that incredible buzzing sound.

'Matt's marked the wild snakes he's studying with some paint

'so he can identify them.'

This is a tiger rattlesnake.

The dark and light bands running across the body

are for camouflage and are what give it its name.

These tongs look like they're squashing the snake, but it's a resilient creature.

They're not doing it any harm at all.

It's not a particularly big snake, but it does have very potent venom.

Certainly enough to mean I have to be very wary of it.

What a beauty!

Actually, what this is is an incredible predator.

The reason for that is a supersense.

Looking at the front of the head,

the snake almost appears to have two sets of nostrils.

The lower ones are what's called a loreal pit,

which picks up the warmth generated by the moving muscles of its prey.

It can literally see animals moving in the dark.

'Exactly as we saw earlier with our thermal camera.'

So all it has to do is to sit and wait

for a small mouse or other warm-blooded mammal to walk too close by,

and then it'll strike with its potent venom.

First of all, it instantly starts to slow the prey down.

But the prey also starts to bleed internally

and to urinate as it runs away,

leaving a scent trail which the rattlesnake can follow.

'So, dangerous to us they may be,

'but the rattlesnake is going on the Deadly 60

'because of its ability to track, ambush and immobilise its prey.

'Venom, speed, supersenses, camouflage,

'and... did I mention venom?

'Well, there you go. The rattlesnake.'

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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