Why care? Why are snakes important ecologically?
Maintaining a high level of biodiversity in any system is of great importance because that will always lead to a healthy environment. Snakes serve as prey and predator in the food web causing them to be of vital importance. They are predators to many small mammals including rodents, and are also prey to some larger predators such as birds of prey. Intrinsically these animals are important to, as are all other animals, just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have the right to live. Snakes have amazing little personalities just like your family cat or dog. Learning to live in harmony with other creatures- even the "creepies and the crawlies" will benefit you in your life.
Main threats to Massasauga Rattlesnakes?
The biggest threat to snakes will always be humans; they evoke a fear out of us that is different than any other species. This is a problem because many snakes are harmless, and the ones that are venomous often want nothing to do with us. They evolved in a world that wasn’t overtaken by urbanization and agriculture and chose to stay as far away from us as possible. However, that isn’t possible anymore. Venomous snakes also take on the burden of being dangerous to humans. We see them as a threat and in turn believe “the only good snake is a dead one”. Education is a huge factor in this, and so is upbringing. We need to change the perception of these misunderstood animals because when you break it down to the numbers snakes do not kill very many people. We as a species can adapt to live safely with these animals, and really it should be a responsibility.
Maintaining a high level of biodiversity in any system is of great importance because that will always lead to a healthy environment. Snakes serve as prey and predator in the food web causing them to be of vital importance. They are predators to many small mammals including rodents, and are also prey to some larger predators such as birds of prey. Intrinsically these animals are important to, as are all other animals, just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have the right to live. Snakes have amazing little personalities just like your family cat or dog. Learning to live in harmony with other creatures- even the "creepies and the crawlies" will benefit you in your life.
Main threats to Massasauga Rattlesnakes?
The biggest threat to snakes will always be humans; they evoke a fear out of us that is different than any other species. This is a problem because many snakes are harmless, and the ones that are venomous often want nothing to do with us. They evolved in a world that wasn’t overtaken by urbanization and agriculture and chose to stay as far away from us as possible. However, that isn’t possible anymore. Venomous snakes also take on the burden of being dangerous to humans. We see them as a threat and in turn believe “the only good snake is a dead one”. Education is a huge factor in this, and so is upbringing. We need to change the perception of these misunderstood animals because when you break it down to the numbers snakes do not kill very many people. We as a species can adapt to live safely with these animals, and really it should be a responsibility.
This is not a Massasauga Rattlesnake, however this is the same fate that many will have. Killing of these creatures affects the ecosystem in a way that is unimaginable and these animals dont need to go extinct before people think "maybe we should have done something sooner". It is quite easy to remove yourself or the snake from an encounter without anyone being injured or killed. Photo Credit: http://nebraskaprairiegirl.blogspot.com/2013/11/i-aint-rattle-snake-kate-but.html