What’s the first word you’d use to describe a snake? If you’re someone who isn’t a fan of the slithery reptiles, scientists hope you’ll reconsider. A group of scientists at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) put a webcam outside a rattlesnake den to learn more about these animals and to convince the public that snakes aren’t the villains many people think they are.

Located in the safety of a rocky hillside in Colorado, the den is home to as many as 2,000 rattlesnakes at certain times of the year. Snakes use dens to protect themselves from cold weather and from predators. During the summer, only pregnant females live in the den. (Unlike most snakes, rattlesnakes give birth to live young rather than laying eggs.) After the young, called pups, are born, they’ll stay with their mothers until the males return to the den in September.

Scientists say the webcam, which they call RattleCam, allows them to observe and learn about rattlesnakes without disturbing their natural habitat. It also gives the public an opportunity to learn—and maybe come to like rattlesnakes, if they didn’t already. The RattleCam website even has a place where viewers can comment and tell scientists what they saw while watching. It could be something the scientists didn’t catch. 

“It truly is a group effort, a community science effort, that we couldn’t do on our own as scientists,” Cal Poly biology professor Emily Taylor, who is leading the project, told the Guardian.

Experts say rattlesnakes are most active in the morning and the early evening. That’s when webcam viewers are most likely to see the snakes drinking rainwater that’s pooled around them or defending themselves from hawks and other predators.

One thing that may surprise viewers is that rattlesnakes are kind of warm and cuddly—to their offspring, at least. They’ll use their bodies to shield their pups from predators. Sometimes they’ll take care of each other’s young.

“Rattlesnakes are actually really good mothers. People don’t know that,” Taylor said.

The webcam will remain active until the winter, when the snakes will be hibernating. It will go back up in the spring of 2025.