By Bob Dvorak

Over lunch at the annual herpetologists’ meeting, Jack Saunders noted that in his study of rattlesnakes, he had never seen one dozing out in the desert that wasn’t coiled into something of a spiral.

A lively discussion ensued on the habits of rattlers — and his companions noted that the same behavior was typical of blacksnakes, pythons, and, for that matter, nearly all snakes.

By the end of lunch, however, Jack was left unsatisfied. “I still want to know — why do they all wind up that way?”