Radio transmitters in rattlesnakes to tell what happens after wildfires

ELLENSBURG — An unsettling rattling filled the air, coming from a large plastic bin. Across the laboratory two men were setting out a large tray, scalpels and other surgical tools.

As the two approached the bin the rattling grew louder. Then one of the men lifted the lid, which held a sign warning of its contents.

Inside the bin, two Northern Pacific rattlesnakes glared up at them, hissing and rattling their tails.

Using a long clamp, Central Washington University biology professor Dan Beck and graduate student Joey Chase lifted one of the rattlesnakes from the bin and coaxed its head into a long plastic tube that held about one third of the snake.

Read the rest of this story by Ryan Miller in the Yakima Herald-Republic.

June 28, 2016