Illustration by Gerald Rapp & Cullen Inc./Laszlo Kubinyi
Western Rattlesnake (Northern Pacific Rattlesnake)
Crotalus viridis oreganus
Subspecies of Rattlesnake
April 25, 1806, near present-day Roosevelt, Klickitat County, Washington.
Size and color vary greatly. Brownish blotches down midline of back, generally edged with dark brown or black and often surrounded by light border. Length: 1.3-5.3 ft (0.4-1.6 m).
Brush-covered sand dunes on Pacific coast to timberline in the Rockies and the coniferous forests of the Northwest; rocky outcrops, talus slopes, and stony canyons; sea level to 11,000 ft (3,350 m).
South-central British Columbia south through Washington, Oregon, and Idaho to Baja California, western Colorado, southwestern Arizona, and extreme west-central New Mexico.
The western and prairie rattlesnakes were once considered a single species, C. viridis, called the western rattlesnake.
