Is Rattlesnake Venom Evolving?
Few creatures, except perhaps the armadillo or the wild turkey, are as emblematic of the New World as the rattlesnake. Before Columbus s voyage, Europeans had never seen one. Rattlers are not found in Europe, Africa, or Asia, but almost every state in the Union (Maine, Alaska, Hawaii, and Delaware are the exceptions) has at least one species. Arizona boasts eleven. A total of seventy species and subspecies–ranging from gigantic diamondbacks, which may exceed seven feet, to an eighteen-inch subspecies native to only a few mountains in Arizona–are found in North, Central, and South America.
