Terrifying, but also slightly cute…
Wildlife authorities in Northern Australia have shared photos of a three-eyed snake that was found on a highway.
On the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Facebook page, close-up images of the snake revealed that it was not two heads forged together, and that it was instead “one skull with an additional eye socket and three functioning eyes.”
Although this sounds absolutely terrifying, the snake actually looks a little bit adorable as well.
Take a look, and enjoy their little Game of Thrones joke:
The experts working for the wildlife group said that it was generally agreed that the eye likely developed very early during the embryonic stage of development.
They also said that it is extremely unlikely that the abnormality is from environmental factors and is almost certainly a natural occurrence as malformed reptiles are relatively common.
Sadly, Monty Python (the nickname that the snake was given), died shortly after it was found.
RIP Monty.
Snake expert Prof Bryan Fry told the BBC that mutations were a natural part of evolution.
“Every baby has a mutation of some sort – this one is just particularly gross and misshapen,” said Prof Fry, from the University of Queensland.
“I haven’t seen a three-eyed snake before, but we have a two-headed cobra python in our lab – it’s just a different kind of mutation like what we see with Siamese twins.”
He also suggested that the snake’s third eye may have been “the last little bit of a twin that’s been absorbed”.
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