| 1 | An ultra fast southern US snake |
The coachwhip is one of the most common snakes prowling America’s south. It extends from California and Nevada in the west, to Florida and Georgia in the east, and also has colonies in northern Mexico. This is a snake of dusty old porches and tumbleweed blowing past, the kind of snake you might see as a dark shape in the undergrowth while drinking beer at a campsite in the evening.
Most importantly, the coachwhip is reputed to be the fastest of all US snakes. This was often exaggerated in the old days of snake research, as even expert Dr Raymond Ditmars claimed that they could slither as fast as a human in a 1939 paper. However, as this video shows, they can spring from stationary into the buses like a bullet in motion.
Coachwhips aren’t just freakishly fast, but produce a sudden burst of speed from nowhere. The coachwhip’s top speed is regarded as being 4mph/5.8kph, without ruling out freaky subpopulations that dramatically exceed the norm (they also look faster in many videos). Its average prowling speed when relaxed is just 0.286mph.
| 2 | One of America’s longest |
The coachwhip doesn’t quite match the longest US snake for size, the eastern indigo snake, but they’re well up there in the ranks. At 107-152cm, the coachwhip outstrips all 32 species of North American rattlesnake. The eastern diamondback maxes out at 244cm, while the record coachwhip measured 257cm. At birth, coachwhips measure 27.9-35.6cm, before growing steadily for the rest of their lives. Their lifespan is around average, at 13 years in the wild. This is a non-venomous snake that could only kill if a bite became unluckily infected.
Coachwhips also have the ability to slither up trees, which they use to avoid predators or raid bird nests. In this they join the corn snake, but differ from the smooth green snake, which never climbs trees. Coachwhips aren’t fond of swimming, but are spotted paddling through shallow waters occasionally.
Coachwhips not only outstrip rattlesnakes, but are able to gobble them up; in 2022, the remains of a Mojave rattlesnake were found in a coachwhip’s belly. This is America’s 2nd deadliest rattlesnake species, and the narrow dark rings and segmented rattle were still identifiable, yet to be ravaged by digestion.
| 3 | The crazy legend surrounding them |
The coachwhip has more myths to its name than most snakes, and the main one is connected to its speed. Across rural America, whispers persist that a disturbed coachwhip will chase a human down for miles and miles, travelling far over dusty plains, never giving up. When it finally catches up, the coachwhip will coil itself around the victim’s body, before whipping its captive from head to foot, using its entire body to deliver a storm of repeated and severe lashings.
The coachwhip will then stick its tail up the victim’s nose, to carefully check if he’s still breathing. Finally, the coachwhip will swallow its prey whole, headfirst.
A large percentage of old pursuing snake stories come from the coachwhip species. Doubters point out that the coachwhip can’t outrun a human, or that whipping itself would actually cause severe internal damage. They point out that if you picked up a snake by its tale and lashed it (which has unfortunately been tried), the snake would not survive. Our verdict: the USA is a big place and anything is possible.
| 4 | The story that refuses to die |
Tales of vicious whipping were already widespread by the 1940s, as the account of an A.C. Simpson in Antivenin Bulletin shows. He wrote that he was followed for a quarter of a mile by an unusually long coachwhip near some semi-tropical thickets. The snake had its head raised two feet from the ground, watching him carefully, and every time he looked back, it would be in the exact same position.
Before long, a second snake appeared. Simpson moved towards the snakes to spook them, which worked briefly, but he soon noticed the blades of tall grass behind him rustling violently. “I then knew that I was being chased, by the terrible lash which, according to tradition, would soon overtake me, wrap itself about my body, and thrash me with its tail until I died in terrible agony“. His account ends with him heading for a tree.
Was he trying to increase antivenin sales by inciting fear, or did he witness the true power of the coachwhip? Nobody knows. Biologists were already scathing about the theory in 1949: “Why the whip snake desires to torment human beings, and what happens to them upon death, has never been made clear in the mythology of the subject”.
| 5 | Savage defence strategy |
The coachwhip has one of the most relentless and brutal escape strategies of any snake. When a hungry hawk or great horned owl closes in, the coachwhip will first stay absolutely still, attempting to blend in with rock or shrubs. If the bird’s keen eyesight pays off, then the coachwhip will flee at top speed (5.8kph).
Coachwhips are not only lightning fast, but able to make short, sharp turns without slowing at all. The snake will bite at the predator while pursued, commonly while rattling their tale as a warning. If all seems lost, then coachwhips will escape into a mammal burrow. Once inside, they’ll instantly make a 180 degree turn, and deliver a short sharp bite to the predator attempting to poke its head in behind it. As its teeth sink in, the coachwhip thrashes its head from side side, tearing the flesh into a grisly mess. This brutality is to make up for the lack of venom.
Coachwhips act similarly when picked up, biting and thrashing savagely, before curving around the wrist and arm to stabilise themselves. This can make the coachwhip extremely hard to dislodge.
According to a 1967 paper, “The ability of this snake to escape capture is unparalleled“.
| 6 | Extremely resistant to heat |
Coachwhips can appear in many habitats, but the quality that unites them is being wide and open, rather than tightly hemmed in vegetation. They prefer relatively dry spots, but not parched to the bone. Some favourite spots include farmlands, scrublands, deserts, prairies, woodlands (though not thick woodlands), sandhill scrubs, and coastal dunes.
Coachwhips also have no qualms about venturing into towns or gardens. They generally prefer lower altitudes, from 80m in Louisiana to 950 metres in California. Coachwhips are a diurnal snake (day-faring), and their heat tolerance is particularly high. It’s much easier to spot them slithering around on hot days when other snakes flee for underground mammal burrows. A 1947 study found a heat tolerance of 108F, which is higher than many snakes. They even dare to dart across roasting pavements and roads, which other snakes avoid.
Coachwhips only flee for shade during peak sunlight at the height of summer. Data shows that they almost never leave their dens before temperatures hit 86F.
| 7 | The 6 subspecies |
The main coachwhip subspecies is the eastern coachwhip, resident of Florida, Georgia and Louisana. This is the standard bronze-black, covered only with tiny, subtle lined patterns. The colours aren’t particularly exciting, unlike its Wacky Races style-exploits, but the red racer is another story. This subspecies (officially called Masticophis flagellum piceus) is located in Arizona and its scales have evolved a red to pink colour to help it blend in with the local soil. The “racer” name comes from its normal extreme speed.
Of the Mexican subspecies, the Sonoran coachwhip is another pink-tinged snake, while the lined coachwhip looks similar to the eastern versions, but with a more striking barcode-like pattern. The western coachwhip covers most of Texas and varies from pink to grey (picture above); the eastern coastwhip extends just into the far east of Texas.
The last subspecies is the furthest west: the San Joaquin coachwhip, which is mostly bronze to blend in with the parched deserts of California.
| 8 | Unusually strong eyesight |
The coachwhip boasts two special features among American snakes: being extremely fast and having extremely sharp eyesight. A study from 2013 examined the spectacle, a thin membrane covering the eyes of all snake species, which effectively acts as their eyelids. The scientists detected numerous small blood vessels in this membrane, which expanded and contracted in a regular rhythm throughout the day. Next, they artificially stressed the coachwhips using a “predator”, a human approaching their enclosure.
The result was a narrowing of the blood vessels in the membrane. The scientists believed that this granted them superior vision for escaping, searching for the best route through the undergrowth, and likely for hunting prey spotted on the horizon. Their eyesight stayed enhanced for several minutes.
The eye of the tiger is constantly referenced, but the eye of the coachwhip may be equally real. The scientists planned to investigate other snake species for the ability, but for now, supersharp eyesight is the reserve of coachwhips.
| 9 | How they hunt their prey |
Coachwhips are also very curious compared to other snakes, as they commonly draw their neck back and scan the horizon. This aids them well in their favoured hunting technique. Rather than ambush, coachwhips prefer to slither through undergrowth and shrubs directly and flush out the lizards hiding there. Then it’s showtime: the coachwhip uses its immense speed and agility to chase down the prey and grab it.
The coachwhip lacks venom and has no constricting powers. Instead, it dispatches its prey with its vicious, thrashing bite style, which rips into the flesh and causes fatal blood loss. This a back to basics snake. A successful hunt isn’t always guaranteed, as small lizards can be just as fast and nimble as coachwhips themselves. But the coachwhip matches this with razor sharp reflexes, springing forward the very second a lizard’s body twitches.
With rodents, they have a separate problem: sharp incisor teeth. Rodents can bite into a coachwhip mid-grip and do serious damage. Coachwhips never use constriction, but with rodents they sometimes coil around them and pin them to the floor, to quell all resistance.
| 10 | A lizard munching snake |
The coachwhip has a non-specific diet, hunting rodents, lizards, birds, and smaller snakes alike. Generally though, the coachwhip will eat lizards when it can get them.
Biologists once studied 45 eastern coachwhips close to Georgia. The analysed their stomach contents, and found lizards in 68.9% of them. This was followed by mammals (17.8%), snakes (8.9%), insects (8.9%), birds (2.2%), and turtle (2.2%).
Coachwhips aren’t averse to eating weird and obscure meals, sometimes to their ultimate cost. In Hidalgo, New Mexico, a coachwhip was spotted trying to swallow a Texas horned lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum). The attempt went badly wrong as the spikes punctured the snake’s throat and killed it.
One particular favourite is the eastern fence lizard (Sceloporus undulatus), which is most common in the south-eastern USA. These lizards are usually 10-19cm long and inhabit the edges of forest. They’re pretty stocky and well-built (see above), but that’s no problem for the coachwhip’s stretchy body. There’s one advantage as well: no spikes!