Discover the planet’s most bizarre and frankly weird snakes, including one that can glide through the air
Snakes have always fascinated and terrified humans in equal measure, slithering their way through myths, legends, and the natural world with an enigmatic allure.
Among the thousands of snake species that inhabit our planet, a select few stand out for their downright bizarre characteristics and behaviours.
We take a closer look at the strange and weird serpents, exploring the most peculiar members of the snake world.
9 weird snakes that could give you nightmares
The flying snake
A flying snake sounds like something out of your nightmares, but it does exist – although they are technically more gliders than fliers.
There are five species of flying snake in Asia, which can glide for about 100 metres. They are the only known limbless vertebrates that can glide though the air.
They like to eat rodents, bats, birds, and lizards – and are bound to give prey a bit of a shock as they launch themselves.
Spiny bush viper
Is this a dragon or a snake? This blue-green snake’s unusual appearance and spiky look is down to its keeled scales which help give the Spiny bush viper – as its known – excellent camouflage in their forest habitat in the rainforests of Central Africa.
Malagasy leaf-nosed snake
We should really do a list of weird noses what with the star-nosed mole and the Malagasy leaf-nosed snake. Yes that’s right there’s a snake with a leaf-shaped nose.
This non-venomous snake is endemic to Madagascar and it’s not known why they have such weird noses, apart from to help them camouflage.
Spider-tailed viper
And from weird noses we go to weird tails. Meet the Spider-Tailed Viper with – as the name suggests – a spidery tail.
It is believed this tail attracts birds looking for a quick spidery meal – but instead they become the meal.
Elephant trunk snake
It’s quite clear how this snake got its name as its loose, baggy skin very much looks like an elephant’s trunk.
There’s a very good reason for its unusual skin, which is it helps it hold onto slippery fish, its primary prey.
Tentacled snake
The tentacled snake (Erpeton tentaculatum) conjures up some pretty far out images. A snake with tentacles – how weird must that be?
And, if you’re a fish, it will scare you to your very core: It lies in ambush, stretched out along the bottom with its head and neck curved back, forming a ‘J’ shape on the mud. When a fish enters the ‘bay’ formed between its head and body, the snake shakes its flank (the section ‘across the bay’ from its face). The alarmed fish usually turns tail and darts off in the opposite direction – often straight into the snake’s mouth. The entire process, from feint to fish dinner, takes less than 0.02 seconds.
Penis snake
You probably haven’t heard the name of this species before, but you may perhaps have heard what some call it – the penis snake. While it’s not too difficult to see why it got that charming moniker, it’s not actually a snake but a caecilian! But it’s so weird – and it looks like a snake – we thought it was worthy of a mention.
Caecilians are limbless amphibians that live hidden in soil or streambeds, feeding on insects and earthworms. A particularly fascinating (or gross, depending on how you see it) fact about these amphibians is that after giving birth some species allow their young to feed on a special outer layer of their own skin, which the hatchlings peel off with specially modified teeth!
Atretochoana eiselti is not one of these species but is set apart by being the only known lungless caecilian and in fact the largest tetrapod (four-limbed vertebrate) to lack lungs.
We named it one of the weirdest animals in the world
Desert horned viper
Yes, that’s right there’s a snake with horns, the Desert horned viper.
Native to the deserts of Northern Africa and parts of the Arabian Peninsula and Levant it is easily recognisable by its ‘horns’.
Like all vipers it is venomous and bites can be serious for humans
Brahminy blind snake
The Brahminy blind snake is a tiny mysterious reptile that moves unseen beneath the soil’s surface – but that’s not the most unusual thing about it as the way they reproduce takes their weirdness to a totally different level.
They lay massive eggs, each about 1.5cm long. This may not sound like much, but when you’re only about 10cm long, that is a considerable relative to its size – especially since there are probably more than three eggs in a clutch and they can reproduce rapidly.
It becomes stranger still when you learn that all hatchlings will be female; there are no males. To date, every single brahminy blind snake is female.
Discover more fascinating snake species and facts
- How do snakes move?
- How long do snakes live?
- Are there snakes in the Arctic
- The deadliest snakes in the world
- Are there any snakes in Ireland? If not why not?
Looking for more weird and wonderful creatures?
Check out our guide to the weirdest animals in the UK, the rarest dog breeds, the most intelligent animals and the most colourful animals in the UK.