About

Mike Cardwell is an adjunct researcher at the Department of Biology, San Diego State University, and a consulting biologist for the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center at the UA College of Pharmacy in Tucson. He does research on rattlesnake behavior and ecology, pre-hospital care of snakebite injuries, and variation in rattlesnake venom. He has been radiotracking wild rattlesnakes for >20 years and serves as an expert witness on rattlesnake behavior and preventing their bites. He provides frequent educational programs on rattlesnakes and on venomous bites and stings generally. He co-edited The Biology of Rattlesnakes (2008, Loma Linda U. Press) and authored the Mohave Rattlesnake species account in Rattlesnakes of Arizona (2016, ECO Publishing). His most significant journal publications include Type specimen of Crotalus scutulatus (Chordata: Reptilia: Squamata: Viperidae) re-examined, with new evidence after more than a century of confusion (Mar 2013, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash.), and Neurotoxic respiratory failure absent after Arizona rattlesnake bites (Jan 2023, Toxicon). His non-technical book, The Mohave Rattlesnake and How It Became an Urban Legend was published by ECO Publishing in 2020.