The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite and laughs at his own inability to pronounce that correctly, which Mike Mills kept trying to get him to do. Stipe says he loved Dr. Seuss as a kid but always pronounced his name the wrong way. The song's complete title is not featured in the lyrics, but there is the line "the sidewinder sleeps in a coil" as well as the later line "the sidewinder sleeps on its back". A sidewinder is a species of rattlesnake ("Crotalus cerastes"), and also an antique style of telephone, with a winding handle on the side. The lyrics frequently refer to making and
Common garter snake female behavior as well as morphology. This type of mimicry is primarily found in the red-sided garter snake. A portion of the males that exhibit female mimicry also secrete the sex-specific hormone to attract other males. In a study these "she-males" mated with females significantly more often than males that did not exhibit this mimicry. A male pretending to be a female around other males increases his chances of reproduction as well as protects against stronger, more aggressive males. Common garter snake The common garter snake ("Thamnophis sirtalis") is a species of natricine snake, which is indigenous to North America