'Peculiar' snake with three working eyes found in Australia, officials say
Photo credit: Facebook/Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife
AUSTRALIA (FOX 13) - A creature from Australia has been making people do a double-take.
Officials at the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Service shared the bizarre photo of a three-eyed baby carpet python they found on the Arnhem Highway. There are two eyes on either side of its head, and one in the center.
Experts thought the snake may have had two separate heads forged together, but an x-ray exam revealed the three working eyes were indeed part of one skull.
Officials said they think the extra eye likely formed during the early stage of “embryonic stage of development,” adding that they don’t believe the deformity was caused by environmental factors.
It “is almost certainly a natural occurrence as malformed reptiles are relatively commo,” the Parks and Wildlife Service wrote on Facebook.
The juvenile python measured out to be 15 inches in length, but unfortunately died just weeks after it was found in March, park officials said.
"It's remarkable it was able to survive so long in the wild with its deformity and he was struggling to feed before he died last week," Ranger Ray Chatto told NT News.