Coachwhip –
Speed and quickness are everything for some animals. Coachwhips have to be quick. Their main predators are hawks and owls striking from above. To survive these attacks, coachwhips bolt at the first hint of a threat from either land or sky. They can disappear in the grass in an instant.
These long gray snakes are also called blue racers, or just racers. There is no snake that can match them for speed. They are very hard to photograph because they don’t stay still, and you can’t corner them like a bullsnake or a clumsy rattlesnake.
Their Latin name is Masticophis flagellum. The term flagellum is a scientific name for a whip-like structure connected to a microscopic organism. The flagellum flaps around and makes the subject move. This is just like a coachwhip snake, only the entire organism is just a long skinny whip.
Coachwhips are not venomous, which is good because they would probably make an excellent coach whip…if you happen to lose yours.
