The rattle of a rattlesnake’s tail is one of those sounds out in nature that causes your ears to perk up and your eyes to start scanning the trail.

Rattlesnakes are born with only one little button on the end of their tail. As the snakelets grow, their rattle will also grow each time that they shed their skin causing a new layer to form under the prior set of rattles. Kind of like how your fingernails continue to grow. Plus, their rattles are made out of the same thing as your finger and toenails, keratin.

Eventually the rattlesnake’s button will fall off the end of the tail as the snake grows older. It is very rare to find a rattlesnake with more than 12 or 15 segments. The segments at the end are generally lost through wear and tear. Interestingly enough, the rattle is completely hollow. There is nothing inside rattling around to produce the sound. What causes the distinct sound is the interlocking segments moving against each other and the sound bouncing around in the hollow rattle.

Check out this video of a rattlesnake warning us to stay away.

Check out this video on what’s inside of a rattlesnake’s rattle.