Did you ever stop to wonder what could be inside of rattlesnake’s rattle?

What is inside a rattlesnake’s tail?

Considered the most evolved and “newest” snakes in the world, a rattlesnake baby is born with a little “pre-button” at the end of its tail. Then, when the snake sheds its skin (which happens every few months), the old, dried-up skin gets caught on that button at the tip of its tail, and a segment stays behind. Each time the snake sheds, a new segment is added and the rattle gets longer and louder. The segments whacking against each other create the rattling sound. You’d think you could tell how old the snake is by how many segments of old, dried-up skin are in the rattle, but sometimes they get brittle and break off.

According to Wikipedia, “The rattle is composed of a series of hollow, interlocked segments made of keratin, which are created by modifying the scales that cover the tip of the tail. The contraction of special ‘shaker’ muscles in the tail causes these segments to vibrate against one another, making the rattling noise (which is amplified because the segments are hollow).”

Watch the video below to see the results of this mini experiment for yourself.

What this father and son found inside the rattlesnake’s rattle is a whole lot of nothing. The shaking sound their tails make have more to do with the layers of skin they build up on their rattlers over time than anything inside them.