Timber Rattlesnake: A Symbol Woven Through America’s Story
Long before it appeared next to the words “Join or Die,” the timber rattlesnake played a vital role in ecosystems—and in the cultures that lived alongside it.
This article is part of America's Emblematic Animals, an ongoing series highlighting animals in the Zoo’s care that have played meaningful roles in American history and culture.
If you live in the eastern half of the United States, you might be closer to a timber rattlesnake than you think. Of the more than 50 rattlesnake species found in North America, the timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) is the most widespread. These rattlesnakes – also known as canebrake rattlesnakes – inhabit the oak-hickory forests and maple and birch-dominated woodlands of the central and eastern United States. Their range extends from eastern Texas and Oklahoma, south to Louisiana and Florida, north to Vermont and New Hampshire, and west to Minnesota.
You might not think a snake that can grow up to five feet long and as thick as a baseball bat would qualify as a master of camouflage. And yet, even the most experienced hikers struggle to spot timber rattlesnakes in the wild. Their banded and striped scale patterns, combined with a tendency to sit perfectly still, allow them to blend in seamlessly among the branches and leaf litter of the forest.
That is, unless they want to be noticed. When threatened, timber rattlesnakes fire up their distinctive tail rattles, producing the hair-raising sound many backpackers and hunters know well. This rattle is a warning meant to avoid conflict, not invite it. Timber rattlesnakes are generally shy around humans and will almost always hide or flee if they’re about to be stepped on.
A rattlesnake’s rattle doesn’t work like a percussion instrument. Rather than being filled with beads like a maraca, a rattlesnake’s rattle is made up of interlocking hollow segments made from modified scales. When the snake vibrates the powerful muscles at the tail’s base, the segments knock against each other at high speed, creating a distinct, high-pitched buzzing sound. A new segment is added to the rattle each time the rattlesnake sheds its skin.
Rattlesnakes don’t go looking for trouble, but they sure know how to end it. As ambush hunters, timber rattlesnakes rely on a sit-and-wait strategy, perching on a fallen log or piece of debris for hours without moving. Specialized heat-sensing organs tell them when unsuspecting prey — often a mouse, chipmunk, squirrel, toad, garter snake, or bird — crosses their path. Then, they strike, envenom, and recoil in just fractions of a second. If their prey escapes the initial bite, the snake can track it by following the chemical scent of its own venom as the toxin takes hold.
Although timber rattlesnakes hunt alone, they can be surprisingly social in their home lives. In cold or mountainous areas, this species tends to overwinter communally in dens, where they sleep curled up next to each other for warmth. Den sites are usually located in deep stone crevices, tree stumps, or burrows, and are carefully chosen for access to prey, fresh water, and flat surfaces for sun basking. Timber rattlesnakes are homebodies — if they find a good den spot, they’ll remain close to it throughout their lives.
As a cold-blooded animal, the timber rattlesnake maintains its body temperature through the environment. On a cold morning, a wild rattlesnake might spend hours warming up on a flat rock, resting and soaking up the sun’s rays until it has enough body heat to move through its territory.
Deep roots in early American history
Countless cultures rose and fell before the United States emerged as a nation, and across the eastern half of what is now the United States, Indigenous communities lived and thrived alongside timber rattlesnakes for millennia. In many of these cultures, timber rattlesnakes held deep spiritual and symbolic meaning, helping shape their collective understanding of the world and humanity’s place within it — and still do today.
The presence of rattlesnakes in Native American legends, stories and oral traditions reflects the deep spiritual significance held for the snakes, often signaling both reverence for their power and caution for their deadly potential. In Cherokee culture, for example, the rattlesnake was known as u-tsa-na-ti, or “he has a bell,” referencing its warning rattle. Cherokee healers attached rattles to bottle gourd medicine rattles used in spiritual healing practices. One recorded account of a western Cherokee belief held that killing rattlesnakes should be considered foolish, because snakes form similar clan relationships to that of humans, and that the death of one snake would oblige the members of its clan to avenge it.
As European settlers moved into these landscapes, the views and traditions surrounding rattlesnakes evolved alongside intersecting cultures. Appalachian folk traditions involved keeping a rattlesnake rattle inside a fiddle for good luck, with larger rattles believed to bring better fortune to the player. Meanwhile, folk medicines sometimes promoted the use of rattlesnake oil to treat diseases and ailments ranging from rheumatism to tuberculosis.
Symbol of the American Revolution
In 1754, Benjamin Franklin published a political cartoon of a snake cut into pieces, each labeled with the initials of a colony, accompanied by the words “Join or Die”. This woodcut image is the first political cartoon published in a newspaper in America. Meant to encourage political unity, the image drew on a widely held folk belief that a snake could reconstitute itself after being cut into pieces. Credit: Library of Congress (LCCN2002695523)
During the eighteenth century, as the idea of a unified American nation began to emerge in the minds of colonists, symbolism became a powerful tool for expressing complex ideas about liberty, freedom and identity.
Benjamin Franklin was among the earliest to champion the rattlesnake as a symbol of American independence. In 1751, Franklin wrote a satirical essay proposing the exchange of rattlesnakes to England for the convicted felons that the British government routinely transported to North American colonies. Though hardly flattering to the snakes, the piece reflected how familiar — and provocative — the species already was to colonists.
It seems Franklin’s view of the rattlesnake might have softened over the years. By 1775, he is believed to have praised the animal’s fierce independence and self-protective nature while writing under a pseudonym:
“She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage. As if anxious to prevent all pretensions of quarreling with her, the weapons with which nature has furnished her, she conceals in the roof of her mouth, so that, to those who are unacquainted with her, she appears to be a most defenseless animal; and even when those weapons are shown and extended for her defense, they appear weak and contemptible; but their wounds however small, are decisive and fatal. Conscious of this, she never wounds 'till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her… was I wrong, Sir, in thinking this a strong picture of the temper and conduct of America?”
A model of the Rattlesnake from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History (AF.58950N).
Revolution, unity and defiance
By the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, rattlesnakes had become powerful symbols of defiance in the minds of revolution-minded colonists. Franklin’s “Join or Die” cartoon captured that symbolism, encouraging political unity and drawing on a widely held folk belief that a rattlesnake could reconstitute itself after being cut into pieces.
During the war, American forces embraced the rattlesnake motif as an emblem of defiance against the British government. Notably, the “Don’t Tread on Me” flag, featuring a coiled rattlesnake on a yellow field, was championed by Christopher Gadsden, a delegate to the Continental Congress. At the same time, the South Carolina Navy adopted a similar design depicting a rattlesnake undulating across a red and blue striped background and bearing the same warning motto. Naval hero John Paul Jones reportedly wore rattlesnake flourishes on his uniform, and the Continental Navy counted a ship named the Rattlesnake among its fleet. A model of that ship, later captured and renamed by the British, now resides in Smithsonian collections.
The wild American frontier
In the centuries that followed, rattlesnakes continued to appear in American art and folklore, often with a mixture of fear and fascination. Snake-derived substances had long been used for medicinal purposes in Indigenous cultures, but these practices were later distorted by so-called “snake oil” salesmen who prospered in the 19th and early 20th century.
Timber rattlesnakes were among the species allegedly used to make fraudulent tonics, which were often marketed as miracle cures and claimed to have connections to Native American medicinal traditions. This practice was largely curtailed after the passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act, and “rattlesnake oil” salesmen like Clark Stanley could no longer sell unsubstantiated remedies without risk of legal action.
An original (circa 1890) medicine bottle with the label “Clark Stanley Snake Oil Liniment” from the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History (MG.293320.1380)
By the 20th century, as the forests and prairies of the western frontier gave way to farm fields and pasturelands, rattlesnakes had solidified their place in the artistic conception of the American West as a wild and dangerous landscape at the core of the nation’s identity. Frederic Remington’s sculpture The Rattlesnake captures a moment of surprise between horse, rider and snake, symbolizing the uneasy relationship between humans and the natural world. A version of this sculpture was displayed in the Oval Office during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
Living among rattlesnakes today
Are rattlesnakes aggressive to humans? Not by nature. Timber rattlesnakes don’t view people as prey and prefer to be left alone, so bites usually happen when a snake is accidentally stepped on or disturbed. And in the overwhelming majority of cases, the rattle prevents an encounter from escalating.
Modern antivenom drugs can quickly neutralize rattlesnake venom. Even though bites are painful and dangerous to humans, rattlesnake venom acts relatively slowly, so deaths are exceedingly rare. (If you’re ever bitten by a snake of any kind, seek medical help immediately.)
Today, rattlesnake venom is studied for its potential medical applications, from blood pressure treatments to clotting disorders — affirming the notion that even disliked and misunderstood animals can offer unexpected benefits to humans.
Conservation status
A timber rattlesnake navigates its habitat in the Reptile Discovery Center at the Smithsonian's National Zoo.
Although timber rattlesnakes are distributed widely throughout eastern North America, they’re a rare sight in many of the forests where they once thrived.
For decades, organized rattlesnake hunts and bounty programs encouraged widespread killing of the animals across their range. Paid hunters exploited the animals’ habit of living in communal dens to wipe out populations by the hundreds. While snake roundups in timber rattlesnake territory are mostly a thing of the past, these snakes still face threats from fear-based persecution, as well as habitat destruction and road strikes.
Snakes of all species get a bad rap, and timber rattlesnakes are hit particularly hard by people who simply don’t like snakes. However, snakes are vitally important for the ecosystems where they live. By targeting rodent populations, they help reduce the spread of disease, limit damage to crops, and contribute to the nutrient cycling processes necessary to maintain the health of the forest.
Today, timber rattlesnakes are listed as endangered or threatened in 12 of the 30 states they can naturally be found. Efforts to protect these fascinating snakes are ongoing, but in some states, like Maine and Rhode Island, the snakes might already be extinct. Efforts are ongoing to protect them so future generations of Americans might enjoy the animals and hopefully admire them in the same way as those of our past did.
As the Smithsonian Institution prepares to commemorate the 250th anniversary of American independence, the National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute is taking time to reflect on the natural world that has shaped the nation’s story. North American animals have influenced our culture, inspired our symbols, and reflected our values — sometimes in obvious ways, sometimes in surprising ones.
America’s Emblematic Animals is of an ongoing series highlighting animals in the Zoo’s care that have played meaningful roles in American history and culture. By drawing on the vast museum collections across the Smithsonian Institution, the series will explore what makes these animals such fitting emblems for our nation’s past, present, and future.