Science: Rattlesnakes & Owls

Prairie dogs, burrowing owls and rattlesnakes—so says an old legend—all live happily together in the same holes. For years zoologists have protested that this kind of thing is very unlikely. But many a rural Midwesterner refuses to give up the legend. Farmers testify that they have seen owls and prairie dogs coming out of the same hole. Some maintain stoutly that they have seen an owl go down a hole and a moment later heard the buzzing of a rattler there.

In the current Natural History, Ornithologist Lewis Wayne Walker explains the basis for this widespread belief. While he was watching a prairie-dog town, an eagle sailed over. Prairie dogs and an owl dashed for the nearest shelter, and the owl struggled with the prairie dogs to get down a hole first. When the danger had passed, they all reappeared and went to their proper homes. This emergency procedure, Walker thinks, explains the stories of dog-owl happy households. It was harder to explain the rattlesnake part of the legend. He could report no rattlesnake sharing a hole with either a prairie dog or an owl.

While studying the nesting habits of the owls, Walker stumbled on an explanation. He dug away the earth over an underground owl nest, covered it with a sheet of glass and set a camera in the earth beside it. Then he watched and took pictures while the eggs were hatched. When the nestlings appeared, he got his answer: when disturbed, the baby owls made a noise exactly like a snake's rattle. Nature may have supplied this trick to frighten off intruders.