New Species of Silver Snake Is Extremely Endangered
The shiny reptile likely numbers only a thousand individuals in its remote Bahamas habitat, experts say.
On an uninhabited island in the southern Bahamas, a scientist noticed a snake that shined like metal as it climbed a tree.
“We all came to take a look at it, and it was instantly clear that this was something different,” says biologist R. Graham Reynolds, part of the scientific team exploring the remote islands.
Expedition member Alberto Puente-Rolón, an expert on Caribbean boas, agreed that the animal appeared unlike any species of known boa.
So the team went searching for more boas, finding four more snakes before settling down to sleep on the beach at Conception Island. But it turns out the boas weren't ready to call it a night. (See "Extremely Rare Fishing Snakes Discovered.")
“Sometime around 3:30 in the morning, I woke up to something crawling across my face,” says Reynolds, now a biologist at the University
