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Snake with a Limb..

Brewster320

Brewster320

New member
This snake was found in China. And it is exactly what the title says, its has a leg and foot.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/6187320/Snake-with-foot-found-in-China.html

Thats not something I was expecting to see. Very weird and cool at the same time.

I've seen that show on the discovery where they talked about ancestoral dna and how the genes for example legs and feet are infact still there , they are just dormant or now serve a different use. On rare occassions the genes awaken and you can get weird animals liks this. For example theres dolphins with 4 flippers, chickens with teeth, people with tails, and apparently snakes with limbs.

It is also possible to awaken the genes artificially in a lab. For example in theory scientist could turn a chicken, turkey, emu, or any other bird into something that looks like a theropod dinosaur with arms, claws, scales, teeth, tail, ect. Weather that'd be a good idea is another story all together.

Anyways this is very interesting story IMO.
 
Usually these type of stories don't provide photos, but the proof is in the photo. That is so strange looking, it will be interesting to hear the final results of what causes this mutation. I could see this rejuvenating the Corn Snake market :)!
 
Dean Qiongxiu, 66, said she discovered the reptile clinging to the wall of her bedroom with its talons in the middle of the night.
"I woke up and heard a strange scratching sound. I turned on the light and saw this monster working its way along the wall using his claw,"
Click to expand...
Yeah, right.
 
Michael823 said:
Yeah, total BS! The fact that the limb is there is mind boggling, but there is no way that the snake actually has any function to it, especially not enough to climb and scratch.
Click to expand...

Agreed, in the picture it looks totally useless. Although maybe it could've moved it some what which gave rise to the whole story "It was climbing the wall".
 
Hmmmmm.... I wonder if it was dragging the "claw" and it made scratching noises on the wall rather than it "using it"... Interesting...

I wonder if it is a DNA "throwback"... there is a word for it, but it escapes me right now... but a genetic malfunction that brings out normally latent DNA expressions...
 
Is it just me or is anybody else thinking this may actually be a mutated lizard? I don't know. The photo just isn't good enough for me to decide.
 
That snake has a ruptured belly and the claw is from it's most recent dinner ( likely a lizard), hence the large swollen belly.
 
Brewster320 said:
I don't think so, the pattern and the leg(atleast where it begins) have the same exact pattern.
Click to expand...
Looks like an abscess where the snake' tissue grew around the punture from the leg! I'll betcha that's what it is...if it really was a throwback it would probably been located near the tail, like BP's with their vestigal claws and hip bones.
 
ForkedTung said:
That snake has a ruptured belly and the claw is from it's most recent dinner ( likely a lizard), hence the large swollen belly.
Click to expand...

Do you really think so? I see the large mass in the belly but I guessed to be food or maybe bloating from being beaten death.
On second look, a ruptured abdomen could very well be the case.

Shame it was killed!
 
I see a whole shoulder and elbow and hand. All pointed, as a limb, in the opposite from correct anatomical direction.
Question : Do modern snakes still have the (latent) genes to produce a fully developed recognizable limb?
I mean, that would kind of be like a human baby being born with a monkey tail.

Of course, if the frog or lizard were oriented correctly headfirst when it was swallowed, it would naturally be oriented "backwards" when it punctured the snakes body wall.
 
ForkedTung said:
Looks like an abscess where the snake' tissue grew around the punture from the leg! I'll betcha that's what it is...if it really was a throwback it would probably been located near the tail, like BP's with their vestigal claws and hip bones.
Click to expand...

Ya but to add to that this is a colubrid, its doesn't have hip bones or spurs so there isn't really a place for it to go. Its crazy enough it has a leg and foot. Asking for it to grw hip bones and stuff is asking for a lot I think.
 
vetusvates said:
I see a whole shoulder and elbow and hand. All pointed, as a limb, in the opposite from correct anatomical direction.
Question : Do modern snakes still have the (latent) genes to produce a fully developed recognizable limb?
I mean, that would kind of be like a human baby being born with a monkey tail.
Click to expand...

You mean like this:
 

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Brewster320 said:
Ya but to add to that this is a colubrid, its doesn't have hip bones or spurs so there isn't really a place for it to go. Its crazy enough it has a leg and foot. Asking for it to grw hip bones and stuff is asking for a lot I think.
Click to expand...

True, but for it to just pop-out mid body and what looks to be facing the wrong way to top off it being there at all is just a bit much, besides the fact that thinking it had a useless appendage from birth and survived. Sure looks like a feeding lump to me and thinking it ate a lizard head first, the leg is orientated in the correct direction.
 
ForkedTung said:
True, but for it to just pop-out mid body and what looks to be facing the wrong way to top off it being there at all is just a bit much, besides the fact that thinking it had a useless appendage from birth and survived. Sure looks like a feeding lump to me and thinking it ate a lizard head first, the leg is orientated in the correct direction.
Click to expand...

Well for an animal that hasn't had limbs in 65 million years I wouldn't expect it to be perfect. Plus your see those animals with extra limbs on their necks and shouldars ect. It makes sense to me.
 
The limb matches the snakes color and if it ruptured through wouldn't it be all bloody and slimy? I guess it was preserved in alcohol though wouldn't alcohol eat away at it and not preserve it? Very strange is all I can say.
 
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