Difficulty: Challenger (Level 2)
A snake as small as a worm has been spotted in Barbados. This happened nearly two decades after people thought it had gone extinct.
The Barbados threadsnake, Tetracheilostoma carlae, was found under a rock during an ecological survey in March. The survey was conducted by the Barbados environmental ministry in collaboration with the conservation group Re:wild. Barbados is an island nation in the Caribbean.
“Barbados threadsnakes are blind snakes,” Connor Blades said. He is a project officer with the Ministry of Environment in Barbados and helped make the discovery.
“They’re quite rare also, it seems. There have only been a handful of confirmed sightings since 1889. So there are not many people who have ever seen it, unfortunately.”
The discovery came after more than a year of searching.
The Barbados threadsnake is the world’s smallest species of snake. It is just eight to 10 centimetres when fully grown. It is tiny enough to almost fit on a US quarter coin.
The species is still vulnerable since females lay only one egg at a time. These snakes are found in the forests of Barbados.
Only two per cent of the island’s primary forest remains. The rest has been cleared for agriculture since the start of the colonial era, 400 years ago.
“The threadsnake’s rediscovery is also a call to all of us as Barbadians that forests in Barbados are very special and need protection,” said Justin Springer of Re:wild. He made the discovery with Blades.
“Not just for the threadsnake, but for other species ... and our heritage.”
