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Super Cool to see these two Northern Pacific Rattlesnakes tonight. This was at about 11.15 pm. From what I understand this is two males engaging in combat/dominance behavior. We watched them for over 45 minutes. They seemed totally oblivious to our presence even though we were close by and we were wearing bright headlamps. Finally, one of the snakes slunk off and then the remaining one suddenly seemed to notice us and rattled loudly

I approached this rattlesnake on the trail in Limestone Canyon – the second image shows the scene as I arrived with the rattlesnake and rabbit resting a short distance from each other. The rattlesnake entered a defensive pose when my group first approached (images 3 & 4), but relaxed shortly afterwards.

The rattlesnake slowly advanced towards the rabbit, as shown in images 5 & 6. The snake approached the rabbit from the rear, and paused to look the rabbit up and down as it appeared to be deciding where to strike. There was no response from the rabbit whatsoever; it did not react to the advancing snake or attempt to escape even as the snake’s snout was nearly touching the rabbit’s back.

The snake struck the rabbit at the nape of the neck. The rabbit immediately leapt into the air, tossing the snake’s head upwards along with it, as shown in images 7 & 8. The rabbit came to a rest at the other side of the trail, about two to three feet from the snake. Both the snake and the rabbit rested in place for a moment, before the rabbit succumbed to the venom and keeled over (images 9 & 10).

The snake approached the unresponsive rabbit very slowly. It once again looked the rabbit over head to tail, and then began eating the rabbit headfirst. The rabbit was still alive at this time, and tried to kick free occasionally, but did not have enough energy to resist. Over the next 15-20 minutes, the snake dragged the rabbit a short distance up the trail to a shaded area, and fully ingested the rabbit.

Sitting in the middle of the path. I picked the turtle up, took a few photos, then set it down where I found it. This path is very close to water and not well travelled so the turtle was not in any danger.