High winds can cause blow downs and create forest gaps Fires cause vigorous regrowth and create habitat mosaics Certainly some individual organisms are killed during extreme events such as hurricanes, massive mudslides, or volcanic eruptions. Catastrophes carried to the extreme, such as asteroid impacts with Earth, can cause species extinctions. On their walk to the North Carolina coast the East Aiken classes might have spotted a pigmy rattlesnake in some of the pine flatwoods. In flooded areas the snakes may have been seen coiled in the branches of trees. In some parts of coastal North Carolina pigmy rattlesnakes have an unusual reddish coloration that distinguishes them from pigmies elsewhere.
Pigmy rattlesnakes are one of six species of venomous snakes found in the Southeast.
Of the 49 species of snakes the East Aiken schoolchildren might encounter on their southeastern journey, only six are venomous. If it is venomous, DO NOT pick it up. Pigmy rattlesnakes are in the group of venomous snakes called pit vipers. This group includes all of the Southeast's venomous species except the coral snake. The pits help in directing the strike toward warm-blooded prey.