Rarely seen pink rattlesnake photographed in Arizona is part of ‘super sneaky’ breed
Everything about rattlesnakes seems designed to terrify, so there’s something nefarious about reports of a pink rattlesnake seen recently near Phoenix, Arizona.
It’s almost as if the venomous reptile was trying to be endearing or, creepier still, cute.
A photo of the snake was posted Nov. 7 on Facebook by rattlesnake expert Bryan D. Hughes, who described it as “unreal.”
However, it’s not the first pink rattlesnake he has encountered as head of Rattlesnake Solutions, a company that relocates troublesome rattlesnakes in Arizona. The pink southwestern speckled rattlesnake is one example of a “super sneaky” species that comes in a multitude of unexpected colors, Hughes told McClatchy News.
They’re just as venomous as a regular rattlesnake — just a lot prettier.
“The snake in the photo is one of several photographed in the mountains of southern Yavapai County on a day last May. The area is covered with rough granite boulders of the same base color as the snake,” Hughes told McClatchy News.
“They are rarely seen by most people and it is often a shock for most to learn how common they are. The extreme camouflage capabilities of this species are the reason. ... On the day this one was photographed, we found five or six of them.”
Each community of southwestern speckled rattlesnakes is born with an adaptation that makes it look almost exactly like the rock composition in its immediate area, Hughes reported in Fieldherper.com.
To see one in motion is to see what appears to be moving rocks, experts say.
“Even down to the smallest detail of the eye and the flecking frequency within the rock, the disguise is complete. This makes them both incredibly specialized predators, and notoriously difficult to find. ... In the right context, the speckled rattlesnake is nearly invisible to passersby,” Hughes wrote.
They are found in the Southwest United States “in southern California, western Arizona, southern Nevada, extreme southwestern Utah,” according to the Tuscon Herpetology Society.
Hughes says he has been studying the species for years and has learned “every mountain from Phoenix to the Pacific Ocean has its own unique color combination” of southwestern speckled rattlesnakes.
“I’ve seen many variations of the reds, pinks, blue, gray, yellow, and even purple hues throughout,” he told McClatchy News.
“The rarest, perhaps, are those in smaller mountain ranges that are difficult or impossible to access. There are even mountain ranges within the same county as Phoenix (one of the largest metro-areas in the U.S.) where this species is only known by rumor and unsubstantiated claim, and no official documentation exists.”
This story was originally published December 8, 2020 at 9:26 AM with the headline "Rarely seen pink rattlesnake photographed in Arizona is part of ‘super sneaky’ breed."