Australian park rangers were surprised to the core when they discovered a three-eyed snake a few weeks ago in the Outback, a sparsely populated hinterland of the Green Continent.
An unusual rhombic python, nicknamed Monty (after the legendary British comedian group "Monty Python"), was found in the vicinity of the town of Humpty Doo in the Northern Territory. The length of a three-month-old reptile was about forty centimeters.
The rangers took the unusual snake with them and handed it over to the wildlife experts. The latter were struck by the outlandish appearance of the animal no less than those who found it. It turned out that the extra eye on the python's forehead is full-fledged and quite seeing, which is a huge rarity for such mutants. In all likelihood, the reptile acquired such a defect at the embryonic stage of development.
Unfortunately, Monty passed away in the past weeks and his remains were placed in the Darwin branch of the State Association for Scientific and Applied Research. Scientists believe that python, despite a serious mutation, lasted a surprisingly long time, which is why it even got caught by people. In nature, such deviations in the development of animals, as a rule, are quickly "destroyed" without leaving any traces. But the reasons and possible consequences of such "failures" are interesting for science, which is why the recent discovery of the Australian Rangers is of certain value for researchers …