What is nature's use of the Rattlesnake?

Forums: Nature, Meaning Of Life, Snakes, Teleology, Eco Niche
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I've been wondering what nature's use of the Rattlesnake and it's venom is? I know it can kill rodents and people. But what value does it have in Nature's life chain?

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This presupposes that "nature" has a "purpose".

I do not believe that is necessarily the case.

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@BumbleBeeBoogie,

BumbleBeeBoogie wrote:

I've been wondering what nature's use of the Rattlesnake and it's venom is? I know it can kill rodents and people. But what value does it have in Nature's life chain?

BBB

Rodents need killing.

Cycloptichorn

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@Cycloptichorn,

If rodents need to be killed, what is nature's plan for them?

Still pondering.

BBB

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@BumbleBeeBoogie,

BumbleBeeBoogie wrote:

If rodents need to be killed, what is nature's plan for them?

Still pondering.

BBB

For rodents? To eat insects, grasses, and small fruits.

Cycloptichorn

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@Cycloptichorn,

Why would nature want insects killed it it's nature's plan for insects to eat every form of life after death? --- except for water habitat creatures. Who eats their dead bodies?

BBB

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@BumbleBeeBoogie,

BumbleBeeBoogie wrote:

That would answer nature's plan for insects to eat every form of life after death--- except for water habitat creatures. Who eats their dead bodies?

BBB

Aquatic versions of insects, bacteria, and bottom-dwellers such as crabs and starfish and other odd things which live at the bottom of the sea.

It's all a big circle in the end - the insect population makes us the bulk of the living organism mass on the surface of the Earth, I've read, and it has to be kept in check just like everything else.

Cycloptichorn

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@BumbleBeeBoogie,

To keep insects in balance - although these creatures eat insects, they don't eat them all. If these creatures didn't exist then there would be too many insects.

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@DrewDad,

DrewDad has a point - you're getting into teleology here, with or without the religious overlay.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/teleology-biology/

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@BumbleBeeBoogie,

BumbleBeeBoogie wrote:

If rodents need to be killed, what is nature's plan for them?

Snakes need food Smile

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the function of rattlesnakes in the southwest is to control the over-population of californians.

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@dyslexia,

Snort.

But, I insist, nature has no plans.

1 Reply

@ossobuco,

Then how do you explain the food chain?

BBB

2 Replies

@Cycloptichorn,

Cycloptichorn wrote:

For rodents? To eat insects, grasses, and small fruits.

Cycloptichorn

What do you mean "small fruits" - they eat my oranges from the tree! Evil or Very Mad

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Although they eat rodents as other snakes do, Rattlesnakes use their venom to kill what would be competition for it's food source. Survival of the fittest of course. Wink

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@BumbleBeeBoogie,

The food chain is a system that has been observed and described; it does not follow that there is a "purpose" to the food chain.

Now if in your original post you're asking "what ecological niche do rattlesnakes occupy" then we can answer that. But that is different from intimating that rattlesnakes "fulfill" some mystical "purpose of nature".

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@BumbleBeeBoogie,

evolution

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@ossobuco,

I was thinking about this thread yesterday and trying to remember where I first heard about teleology. Thinking, Teilhard de Chardin.. or in comments about Chardin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Teilhard_de_Chardin
that was back when I was winding my way out of being a catholic via theology, a fool's quest..

but then I worked out it was yet more foo foo of jesuit orchestration.

Wondering what JoefromChicago could fill me in about on this. (I think Joefrom Chi knows all)

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What is nature's use of the Rattlesnake?

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