{"id":27,"date":"2010-09-20T21:49:50","date_gmt":"2010-09-21T04:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wildnaturephotos.com\/Blog\/?p=27"},"modified":"2010-12-19T19:28:23","modified_gmt":"2010-12-20T02:28:23","slug":"diamondback-vs-quail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wildnaturephotos.com\/Blog\/2010\/09\/diamondback-vs-quail\/","title":{"rendered":"Diamondback vs. Quail"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>I recently photographed a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (C<em>rotalus atrox<\/em>) eating a young Gambel&#8217;s Quail (<em>Callipepla gambelii<\/em>). The snake spent over 2 hrs and 17 minutes from the time I discovered it starting to swallow the quail until it finished swallowing and readjusted its mandibles and quadrate bones. The snake was visited by harvester ants, a Red and Charcoal Seedbug (Neacoryphus lateralis), and a tarantula. In the latter photos, you can clearly see the glottis that allows breathing during this long process of swallowing, as well as evidence of the copious amounts of saliva that are produced. The flexibility and stretch of the skin and mouth structures is truly impressive.\u00a0The snake was completely vulnerable during this meal and could have been captured by hand, or eaten by numerous predators. \u00a0The snake remained within 12 feet of the spot where I first found it until it finished swallowing its meal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"opaque\" \/><param name=\"allowScriptAccess\" value=\"always\" \/><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"false\" \/><param name=\"bgColor\" value=\"#AAAAAA\" \/><param name=\"flashvars\" value=\"target=_self&amp;f_l=t&amp;f_fscr=f&amp;f_tb=f&amp;f_bb=t&amp;f_bbl=f&amp;f_fss=f&amp;f_2up=f&amp;f_crp=f&amp;f_wm=t&amp;f_s2f=t&amp;f_emb=t&amp;f_cap=t&amp;f_sln=t&amp;imgT=f&amp;cred=iptc&amp;trans=xfade&amp;f_link=t&amp;f_smooth=t&amp;f_mtrx=t&amp;tbs=3000&amp;f_ap=t&amp;f_up=f&amp;btype=new&amp;bcolor=%23CCCCCC\" \/><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/www.photoshelter.com\/swf\/CSlideShow.swf?feedSRC=http%3A\/\/stock.wildnaturephotos.com\/gallery\/Western-Diamondback-Rattlesnake-Crotalus-atrox-Eating-a-Gambels-Quail\/G0000N5vo7ybjaqo%3Ffeed%3Djson\" \/><param name=\"bgcolor\" value=\"#AAAAAA\" \/><param name=\"allowfullscreen\" value=\"false\" \/><embed type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" src=\"http:\/\/www.photoshelter.com\/swf\/CSlideShow.swf?feedSRC=http%3A\/\/stock.wildnaturephotos.com\/gallery\/Western-Diamondback-Rattlesnake-Crotalus-atrox-Eating-a-Gambels-Quail\/G0000N5vo7ybjaqo%3Ffeed%3Djson\" flashvars=\"target=_self&amp;f_l=t&amp;f_fscr=f&amp;f_tb=f&amp;f_bb=t&amp;f_bbl=f&amp;f_fss=f&amp;f_2up=f&amp;f_crp=f&amp;f_wm=t&amp;f_s2f=t&amp;f_emb=t&amp;f_cap=t&amp;f_sln=t&amp;imgT=f&amp;cred=iptc&amp;trans=xfade&amp;f_link=t&amp;f_smooth=t&amp;f_mtrx=t&amp;tbs=3000&amp;f_ap=t&amp;f_up=f&amp;btype=new&amp;bcolor=%23CCCCCC\" bgcolor=\"#AAAAAA\" allowfullscreen=\"false\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" wmode=\"opaque\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I recently photographed a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) eating a young Gambel&#8217;s Quail (Callipepla gambelii). The snake spent over 2 hrs and 17 minutes from the time I discovered it starting to swallow the quail until it finished swallowing and readjusted its mandibles and quadrate bones. The snake was visited by harvester ants, a Red and Charcoal Seedbug (Neacoryphus lateralis), and a tarantula.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4,5,3],"class_list":["post-27","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biology","tag-predation","tag-quail","tag-rattlesnake"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Diamondback vs. Quail - WildNaturePhotos Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wildnaturephotos.com\/Blog\/2010\/09\/diamondback-vs-quail\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Diamondback vs. Quail - WildNaturePhotos Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I recently photographed a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) eating a young Gambel&#039;s Quail (Callipepla gambelii). The snake spent over 2 hrs and 17 minutes from the time I discovered it starting to swallow the quail until it finished swallowing and readjusted its mandibles and quadrate bones. The snake was visited by harvester ants, a Red and Charcoal Seedbug (Neacoryphus lateralis), and a tarantula.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wildnaturephotos.com\/Blog\/2010\/09\/diamondback-vs-quail\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WildNaturePhotos Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WildNaturePhotos\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-09-21T04:49:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-12-20T02:28:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rich Wagner\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rich Wagner\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wildnaturephotos.com\/Blog\/2010\/09\/diamondback-vs-quail\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wildnaturephotos.com\/Blog\/2010\/09\/diamondback-vs-quail\/\",\"name\":\"Diamondback vs. Quail - WildNaturePhotos Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wildnaturephotos.com\/Blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-09-21T04:49:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-12-20T02:28:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wildnaturephotos.com\/Blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a2f6e414ef6cbf9f5a6dc820e852f87f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wildnaturephotos.com\/Blog\/2010\/09\/diamondback-vs-quail\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.wildnaturephotos.com\/Blog\/2010\/09\/diamondback-vs-quail\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wildnaturephotos.com\/Blog\/2010\/09\/diamondback-vs-quail\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.wildnaturephotos.com\/Blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Diamondback vs. Quail\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wildnaturephotos.com\/Blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wildnaturephotos.com\/Blog\/\",\"name\":\"WildNaturePhotos Blog\",\"description\":\"Wildlife and Nature Stock Photography Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.wildnaturephotos.com\/Blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wildnaturephotos.com\/Blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a2f6e414ef6cbf9f5a6dc820e852f87f\",\"name\":\"Rich Wagner\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wildnaturephotos.com\/Blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e361357cf977313e1caf6a2a2f2a201?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e361357cf977313e1caf6a2a2f2a201?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Rich Wagner\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.WildNaturePhotos.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wildnaturephotos.com\/Blog\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Diamondback vs. Quail - WildNaturePhotos Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.wildnaturephotos.com\/Blog\/2010\/09\/diamondback-vs-quail\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Diamondback vs. Quail - WildNaturePhotos Blog","og_description":"I recently photographed a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) eating a young Gambel's Quail (Callipepla gambelii). 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