Transcription: The rule in the desert is never to put your hands or feet into places you can't see. Now you know why. That's a western diamondback rattlesnake, one of the largest and commonest around here, and we nearly trod on it! The combination of this dramatic threat posture and vigorous tail rattling is pretty intimidating. So it's perhaps not surprising that a number of harmless snakes also rattle their tails in this way.
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