When one thinks of rattlesnakes, the words warm and cuddly rarely come to mind. A recent study from Loma Linda University near San Bernardino, California, may change that, however, as it reveals that rattlesnakes, like people, seem to find comfort in being around other members of their own species. According to a study that was just published in the journal Frontiers in Ethology, rattlesnakes appear to feel happier when they wiggle into a sort of group hug with other rattlesnakes. The research calls into question the idea that reptiles are solitary hunters with limited complicated social behaviour. The study is the work of Chelsea Martin, a Loma Linda doctoral student in biology, and her faculty adviser William Hayes, a professor of earth and biological sciences. Ethology, the study of animal behaviour, has long recognised that birds and mammals, including humans, find comfort from being physically close to their own kind. Such proximity tends to make reptiles more relaxed, lowers their heart rates and reduces stress – not much different from people, Hayes said. "Unfortunately for rattlesnakes and other lower vertebrates and invertebrates, we seldom give them that credit," Hayes said.