I have a wildlife zoo-Chapter 583 : Desert Diamond

The leopard gecko is also known as the "smiley gecko"!

It is naturally blessed with a cute smiling face that many find endearing, and it's a common pet gecko.

This orange-yellow variant is a visually appealing morph bred by humans, while the original color is actually a white base with black spots, which look like the spots of a leopard; hence its name, the leopard gecko.

There are many morphs of the leopard gecko, such as tangerine, albino, high yellow, and carrot tail, but the original color is quite rare and not easy to come by; this one only has a few spots on its tail.

Yan Ganghui could see from the front that the leopard gecko's gleaming big eyes were looking at him, its pupils shining brightly, sticking out its red tongue, and smiling foolishly like a husky, which was very infectious.

And from the side, Su Hui could see its slender pupils and slightly upturned corners of the mouth, which beyond being adorable, also gave off a sense of mystery and dashing charm, very handsome.

It tilted its head slightly, sizing up the onlookers outside.

It seemed to feel no threat from them, so it bent its head towards its flank, coiled its tail around itself, lifted a front paw, and stuck out its little tongue to carefully lick its fingers.

The little paws were cute, too!

Five clear and distinct fingers, tiny and pinkish.

The leopard gecko sheds its skin every few weeks, and because its fingernails are curved, skin often remains at the tips during shedding. If not licked off, over time it can affect blood circulation.

Some leopard geckos are not smart enough to lick off their shed skin and need their owners to help clean it.

However, this leopard gecko was quite clever and knew how to groom itself.

"Wow~"

Su Hui was captivated by this leopard gecko, its delicate features and sweet, charming smile, its well-behaved demeanor—it looked like a creature straight out of an anime, stirring her heart!

Yan Ganghui couldn't resist pulling out his phone and taking a photo.

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Originally, he just thought of strolling around since it was close to the elephant exhibit, planning to casually tour until noon and have an easy meal at the nearby animal restaurant. He didn't expect the reptiles here to be so charming, catching his fascination instantly.

Seeing his girlfriend so excited and thrilled made him even happier.

The leopard gecko licked its fingers for a while, crawled around in the box to move about, and then it crawled back behind the plants and stones to coil up its tail and go to sleep.

...

They came to a four-meter-wide display cabinet.

Its base was laid with fine gravel; in the center, several large rocks were piled up to form a nest, and there were a few spherical or slender cacti on the side, clearly depicting a dry desert environment.

A dark grey snake with white patterns on its back, over a meter long, was slithering through the sand.

This was an eastern diamondback rattlesnake!

The most notable feature is the white diamond-shaped spots on its back, which look like diamonds, hence the nickname diamondback rattlesnake.

The flat triangle-shaped head slowly rose, flicking its tongue, and it climbed onto the rocks.

It joined another western diamondback rattlesnake; placing its head on the flat surface of a rock, it lay motionless, basking in the sun.

Yan Ganghui observed its eyes, feeling that the snake seemed very serious: "Looks like this one's venomous! It seems to have an aura of menace."

Su Hui said, "It does look a bit fierce!"

Looking at the end of its tail, there were mulberry-shaped white rattles, each rattle tightly arranged in sequence.

Indeed, it was a venomous rattlesnake.

Next to the display cabinet was a sign about the rattlesnake shaking its tail!

It read, "Want to know what a rattlesnake's tail shaking sounds like?"

Yan Ganghui curiously pressed a button next to him and suddenly heard the "ka-la ka-la ka-la~" sound, rapid and sharp like the crackling of tiny twigs.

It was somewhat like a baby's rattle.

The display talked about some knowledge of rattlesnake tails!

Rattlesnake tails are made of keratin, just like human fingernails, and are layered joint-like.

A newborn baby rattlesnake has one segment, and at this stage, it cannot make any sound. A new segment will be added each time it sheds its skin.

When there are enough keratin rings and the tail is shaken, they rub against each other and collide, amplifying the sound within the hollow tail to make the ka-la ka-la noise.

Normally, during hunting, the muscles on the tail control the keratin rings to stay still. When they sense a threat, the rattlesnakes will shake their tails to make sound as a warning.

Research has found that the sound of a rattlesnake's tail-shaking is not constant!

When they first detect an approaching threat, the shaking frequency of their tails is below 40hz.

Once the initial warning is ignored and the threat continues to approach, the rattlesnake rapidly increases the shaking frequency to between 60-100hz, which sounds louder.

But rattlesnakes themselves cannot hear the sound of their tails; they rattle to encourage the threat to keep its distance, not to lure food or communicate with conspecifics.

However, in some areas now, rattlesnakes have started to stay silent.

In the western part of the US, the City of Sweetwater annually holds events sanctioned by tradition to slaughter rattlesnakes. They use gasoline, iron hooks, and other means to pull rattlesnakes out of their burrows, away from humans, and then behead and skin them.

To avoid exposing themselves to human hunters, rattlesnakes choose not to rattle, which makes them even more dangerous.

"This..."

Yan Ganghui was somewhat lost for words, not knowing what to say.

Lü Ye meandered around the exhibition hall, and seeing him in uniform, Su Hui curiously called him over and asked, "Hello, how do you normally keep venomous snakes? Aren't you afraid of being bitten?"

Lü Ye smiled and replied, "See our terrarium here, the water bowl is on this side, and the rock cave entrance is on the other. When we conduct operations, the snake inside automatically hides on the other side or retreats into its den. We just need to leave enough space to maneuver, so there's no need to worry. How do you feel? Are you scared?"

Su Hui honestly said, "The pretty snakes are okay, but rattlesnakes are a bit scary!"

Lü Ye said, "Actually, rattlesnakes are quite similar to us humans in some respects! Did you know, rattlesnakes also take their kids out for strolls."

Yan Ganghui widened his eyes in surprise, "Ah!?"

Lü Ye said, "I consider myself a seasoned reptile enthusiast, and I used to travel all over the world. A few years ago in autumn, while field herping with a friend in the Huachuca, Arizona mountains, we ran into a rock rattlesnake taking her babies for a walk.

The little rattlesnakes were very panicked when they saw us; some started to flee, others chose to hide under their mother.

The mother rattlesnake, having given birth not long before and quite emaciated, did not flee but coiled in place, rattling her tail very loudly as a warning to us.

Of course, we didn't disturb the family and soon backed off."

Yan Ganghui was deeply moved, his perceptions overturned.

His past impression of snakes was of cold-blooded animals, devoid of feelings. It seemed like a matter of course.

Now, however, a question arose: Are snakes truly devoid of feelings?

Su Hui was even close to tears!

The image of the mother snake lifting her head, weak yet still vigorously shaking her tail to protect her babies underneath, emerged in her mind.

Lü Ye continued, "As adults, rattlesnakes even visit their relatives and friends, looking up their kin. They're also very accommodating and will house along with other species of rattlesnakes and non-venomous whip snakes in their dens to hibernate together.

These two rattlesnakes we have here are the eastern and western diamondbacks, each typically found on opposite coasts of America with little interaction. But look at them, they also get along quite amiably together."