KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Fall's arrival means love is in the air for copperhead snakes, and a Tennessee man happened to catch a very public encounter of some sort on video.
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency shared video taken by Kevin Yates in Perry County of what looked to be a bizarre wrestling match between two venomous copperheads.
The jury was out for wildlife officers as to if the snakes were fighting... or mating. They're letting the viewers decide:
Snake expert Stephen Nelson, Zoo Knoxville's Herpetology Collection and Conservation Manager, was able to shed some light on what these two snakes were doing in the road... and it was likely in the name of love.
"Male copperheads will combat to gain the affection of a female copperhead or to have a male say, 'Hey this is my turf -- you need to leave!' So it's dominating who it is. Song birds might do it with their call. Some birds will fight as well. They obviously don't have legs or arms, so this is one of the few ways they could kind of combat with each other," he said.
Mystery solved, we guess.
The copperhead is one of four venomous snakes found in Tennessee, alongside the timber rattlesnake, pygmy rattlesnake, and the western cottonmouth. The TWRA said two of those four snakes -- the copperhead and timber rattler -- can be found here in East Tennessee.
Also, even though snakes aren't exactly the most beloved creatures, it's still illegal in the state of Tennessee to kill them because of the vital role they play in their ecosystems. If you see a snake, just leave it alone.