A three-eyed snake has been found by park rangers in the Australian outback.
The unusual snake, nicknamed Monty, was found by rangers on the Arnhem Highway near the Northern Territory town of Humpty Doo several weeks ago.
Leaving the rangers bewildered as to how he had survived so long with its malformity, the snake was just three months old when they picked him up on the highway.
The three-month-old snake was 40 centimetres long and had three functioning eyes when he was picked up by wildlife experts in late March.
As reported by NT News via the Daily Mail, rangers said caring for Monty was difficult as the young snake struggled to feed due to his deformities.
After being found, Monty was examined via an x-ray which revealed the likely origin of the extra eye; it was thought to have developed very early during the embryonic stage of development.
Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife confirmed the discovery on their Facebook page, noting that the snake had just one skull with an additional eye socket.
The three-eyed snake warns The Dry is coming!Our Rangers found a three-eyed snake on the Arnhem Highway near Humpty…
Posted by Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife on Wednesday, 1 May 2019
Ray Chatto, from NT Parks and Wildlife, sadly confirmed the snake died last week, noting how surprising its survival in the wild was.
He told NT News:
It’s remarkable it was able to survive so long in the wild with it’s deformity and he was struggling to feed before he died last week.
The eye was believed to have developed very early and it’s ‘extremely unlikely’ it was a result of environmental factors.
Chatto continued:
It was generally agreed that the eye likely developed very early during the embryonic stage of development.
It is extremely unlikely that this is from environmental factors and is almost certainly a natural occurrence as malformed reptiles are relatively common.
NT Parks and Wildlife confirmed in their Facebook post:
The snake is peculiar as an x-ray revealed it was not two separate heads forged together, rather it appeared to be one skull with an additional eye socket and three functioning eyes.
Monty’s remains are now being kept at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Darwin.
Rest in peace, little fella.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).