An extremely rare rattler

Got some pics of Crotalus unicolor, Aruba island rattlesnake while at the zoo today. These are seriously endangered rattlesnakes, and last I remember were the rarest in the world. But things may have changed since last I read up on these guys.

A couple pics for you.................






This guy is usually hiding, so I took advantage of the opportunity. Hope you enjoy.

Rick

Whats their story?I presume its habitat distruction.Too many resorts i bet.
And if you were able to find them on the island,how stringent are the laThey are an awesome looking animalws.Would you be able to import them.Are they on the endangered list?
They are an awesome looking animal!
Great pics too.

Personally, I never found them on the CITES list, but have heard they are CITES APP II, and have read the same somewhere else. I know they are protected by their local government, and are very hard (might as well say impossible) to come by. Even the AZA has a hard time coming by them. They have a special breeding program to try and get more of them into our zoos though.

But yeah, the typical story of habitat loss and too many years of disillusional killing of them. Sad too. Unless the status has changed, they are the most endangered species of rattlesnake, and critically endangered.


Rick

Originally Posted by crotalusadamanteus

Personally, I never found them on the CITES list, but have heard they are CITES APP II, and have read the same somewhere else. I know they are protected by their local government, and are very hard (might as well say impossible) to come by. Even the AZA has a hard time coming by them. They have a special breeding program to try and get more of them into our zoos though.

But yeah, the typical story of habitat loss and too many years of disillusional killing of them. Sad too. Unless the status has changed, they are the most endangered species of rattlesnake, and critically endangered.


Rick

Damn homosapiens.
Lets hope the breeding projects are making headway .

I think there are a couple species of Crotalus in Mexico that are known by only a dozen or even 1 specimen, so probably more rare, but I don't know if they are exterpated or what the status is, as I haven't kept up on that either. Course as a current "viable", or still
ongoing" ???? species, the unicolors may be the rarest.

Happen to know which ssp in Mexico? I'm pretty behind the times not keeping hots anymore. But I like to read a bit here and there still.

Rick

Originally Posted by crotalusadamanteus

Happen to know which ssp in Mexico? I'm pretty behind the times not keeping hots anymore. But I like to read a bit here and there still.

Rick

Rick,
I don't know off hand, my friend Ron is a Crotalus fanatic and he was talking about them because they are on his mexico trip "want list" (field records and photos, not physical want list). I'll check with him and see what he thinks is the top 3 or 5 most rare, and post something. See if people agree or not.

Cool. I'll have to look for it when ya post.

Rick

http://www.globalherp.com/id30.htm

Now that was a pretty good read, thanks for sharing that with us.
Interesting how the USFW can manage to get their finger into that pie. Personally, I think that they should leave the AZA to do their thing. I think they should not have any say what the AZA does, since it is mostly conservation of the species that they are trying for.

But alas, I am but a peon, so what I thinks matters little to them. LOL

Thanks again for sharing that.
Rick