Published by Science, video courtesy of Current Zoology

Rattlesnakes in arid landscapes often coil their bodies when it rains to gather and sip drops from their sticky scales. But they can also nab water from the skin of nearby snakes, according to a new study reported in Current Zoology.

To make the find, biologists studied 100 prairie rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis) on a high-elevation ranch northwest of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Only about 2 millimeters of rain falls there each month from spring to early fall, when the reptiles are most active. The team mimicked these sporadic showers by spritzing the snakes with a garden sprayer, then recorded their reactions. About half of the parched animals took drinks of the simulated rain for the camera.

The vipers slaked their thirst in three novel ways. Some convened and traded water, including snakes that took turns siphoning moisture from each other’s heads and a cluster of pregnant females that sponged off droplets from one another’s wet bodies. Others turned their coils upward into tilted soup bowl shapes, appearing to tip water toward their mouths. And a few snakes caught water on their own faces and gulped—although it wasn’t clear whether they swallowed many drops. Out of the three newly reported tactics, the scientists saw neighborly slurping most often.

Next, the researchers hope to explore whether such intricate endeavors are genuinely cooperative, especially for pregnant females in dens. For now, the results—a rare in-depth catalog of rain-harvesting behaviors for any vertebrate in its natural habitat—show the rattlers are primed to adapt to an uncertain rainfall future, the team says.