Researchers assumed for nearly twenty years that the world’s smallest snake was extinct, but it was discovered on Barbados last spring. The Barbadian threadsnake was hiding there under a stone.
It’s not surprising that the creature was difficult to find. The threadsnake only grows to be 10 centimeters long and is as thin as a spaghetti strand. The discovery was made by the Barbadian Ministry of Environment and the nature organization Re:wild.
Blades and his colleague Justin Springer had been searching for the small snake for over a year. During one of their research days in March, Springer jokingly said to Blades that he “smelled a threadsnake” while turning over a stone. But the snake was really there. “When you’re used to looking for things and you don’t see them, you get scared when you finally find them,” says Springer.
The threadsnake was first observed in 1889. Since then, the creature has only been seen a few times. The snake reproduces sexually and the females lay only one egg, unlike other reptiles that can lay multiple fertile eggs without mating.
Their rarity is a cause for concern for scientists. “If the population is so small, I worry about their chances of finding partners and reproducing. Especially if their habitat is threatened,” says Blades.
