Herps--reptiles and amphibians

I don't know what to make of this guy. He nonchalantly reaches in and picks up two tropical rattlesnakes, which I believe are Crotalus durissus and then a gaboon viper. He free-handles all three snakes at the same time along with some intermittent cussing. I have difficulty understanding what he's saying.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sOqBIqU1x7s

Josh Leonard again free handling a Gaboon viper.

https://youtu.be/d9rHVVR_K1I

Man free-handles pet water cobra.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t8jqI2gxgeM

tiger snake. Notechis scutatus Found in Australia and Tasmania.


tiger snake. An elapid showing its bluffing posture.

Mutual friendship between crocodile and a man.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=18gxw3V7cPs

Close Encounters of the animal and human kind, fish, birds, mammals and reptiles.

https://youtu.be/tORyXbx3tUs

Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake on road in Big Cypress preserve, Florida. It's very tolerant but finally get sick of it and leaves.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PlWeBV9d1rQ

Tim Harrell, seasoned Fakahatchee Strand veteran, afraid of a little alligator blocking his path. He oughta be ashamed. Pig frog croaking in the background.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tFypMQnabIE

Man feeds a wild diamondback water snake a fish. Water snakes are pretty aggressive feeders. The only problem I can see is if it's a public place, and considering that most people have snake phobias, a person might think the snake is being aggressive and kill it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LVPIM06bMJo

Chemical crypsis in the puff adder Bitis arietans.

Crypsis is a means by which animals avoid detection by predatory or prey animals. Visual crypsis is blending in with the background, background mimicry or camouflage. Chemical crypsis is the lack of emitting odor or the emitting of odor indistinguishable from the background.

The puff adder is a large, heavy-bodied, venomous snake from Africa that catches its prey by hiding in ambush. It employs visual crypsis-- background mimicry-- to avoid detection by prey and predatory animals the latter of which are 42. Fifteen of these predatory animals rely heavily on odor detection, and a puff adder emits virtually no odor thus reducing predation by these animals.

The means by which the snakes obtain chemical crypsis is unknown, and rigorous tests employing dogs and meerkats have shown that they have great difficulty in detecting puff adders by odor.



https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4707760/

The shed skins of the puff adder do emit an odor. The snake also defecates when it leaves the shed skin. Since the snake is an ambush predator, I would think that every time it defecates it would do it in a different location from its ambush site.

Horse doesn't like alligator at Payne's Prairie State Park, Florida. 1 minute video.

https://youtu.be/MQ8PRqy8vQI

Dork cat presses his luck with alligator.

https://youtu.be/5sAF8gMN9c0

That cat (not a dork) is Mugsy, well-known and a tourist attraction for his chasing off gators.

That cat will soon become alligtor food.

Mugsy arrived on the scene in 2014. He's been smacking alligators on the nose for several years. I was unable to find out whether he's still alive. Someone mentioned that he was sick with an infection. I don't know if he survived it.

Not alligator food. The cat is an Internet star.

Alligator bellowing. This is done by males especially, to establish territory. The head is raised out of the water, the abdomen vibrates sending up a spray of water, and a short, low-frequency exhortation is produced. One bellow may precipitate bellows from other alligators, as will rumbles from large trucks and airliners.

Aren't bellowing and vibrating also a mating ritual?

I don't know, possibly.