A strange flatware spark flickering through a tree hitch the eye of life scientist while on an hostile expedition in the Bahamas . It after turned out they had discovered a very rare unexampled coinage of snake : the silver feather boa ( Chilabothrus argentum ) . The findings from the expedition were published in the May edition of the journalBreviora .
During two expeditions , the investigator number 20 silver medal boas on the remote Conception Island in The Bahamas . One of these meter - long ( 3 foot ) snakes was discovered on their first expedition when it slither across atomic number 82 research worker Graham Reynold ’s head as he slept on the beach in the middle of the night . “ Sometime around 3:30 in the morning , I woke up to something grovel across my human face , ” Reynolds toldNational Geographic .
The biologist from Harvard University carry genetical depth psychology on samples of the serpent ' tissue , which confirm that this was indeed a young species – gain it the first raw species of boa to be discover in the Caribbean since the 1940s .
As well its own colouring material , the snake buzz off its name from being first observe on a silver thenar tree diagram . R. Graham Reynolds / University of North Carolina Asheville
“ Worldwide , raw species of Gaul and lizards are being get word and described with some geometrical regularity . New species of snakes , however , are much rarer . ” Robert Henderson , curator at Milwaukee Museum of Natural History and a cosmos expert on boas , said in astatementon the University of North Carolina Asheville website .
Understandably , not much is known about the ophidian yet . However , the biologist did find its diet mainly consists of skirt . As with other species of the feather boa ( Boidae ) household , it kill its target through grasping them with its tooth and then compact them until they fail of suffocation .
The recently discovered snake has already been declared critically endangered and one of the rarest boa species in the world . as luck would have it for the Snake River , they are more or less spare from human - made menace to their habitat and poaching . But instead , the mintage is threatened from predation by feral cats on the island .
“ We found this species on its mode to extinction , and now we have the opportunity to intervene on their behalf so that does n’t happen , ” Reynolds , who is now at the University of North Carolina Asheville , lend .
The researcher are collaborate with local authorities to put in property preservation measures . to boot , all of the individuals get were mensurate and electronically tagged to aid further research and easily describe them in future . National Geographicreports that investigator believe removing the ferine cats , which are not native to the island , could be the only way to guarantee the future for this beautiful silver medal beast .
A silver boa munching down on a bird . R. Graham Reynolds / University of North Carolina Asheville
