Dead rattler may have legs

This story was published Friday, May 6th, 2005

By John Trumbo, Herald staff writer

Nancy McLeod of West Richland knew she had snakes in her back yard, but she had no idea one of them was a biped.

The 2-foot-long reptile, which McLeod believes is a rattler, was discovered Thursday morning on her Red Mountain Road property as a friend was helping her burn tumbleweeds.

Pedro Osorio, 46, said he shoved a pitchfork into a tumbleweed, lifted it and saw the snake on the ground. After placing the weed onto the fire, he forked the snake and tossed it into the flames also.

Osorio said he noticed the strange little appendages on the charred snake after the fire died down.




"I called to Nancy, 'Come here and look at these little legs,' " he said.

Each leg, about a half-inch long, protrudes from the snake's body about 4 inches from the tip of the tail.

"Obviously it is a mutant," said McLeod, who wasted no time in trying to alert Kelly Cassidy, curator of the Conner Museum at Washington State University in Pullman.

"They were very, very interested," she said, noting that the researcher told her to put the snake into a sealable plastic bag and to keep it in a freezer until someone from the university could pick it up.

If the snake does have legs, it would be a rare discovery of interest to herpetologists and paleontologists.

A report in the April 1997 issue of Science News magazine discussed how paleontologists Michael W. Y. Lee and Michael W. Caldwell believed the fossil of a 40-inch-long creature with stubby rear legs may be a missing link between a snake and a lizard.

The fossil, known as a Pachyrhachis problematicus, was discovered in 1978 near Jerusalem. Its tiny legs, while fully formed, were too small to serve any purpose, noted the magazine's report.

Unfortunately, McLeod and Osorio didn't have time to realize the potential significance of their reptilian visitor.

"If I ever find another one, I'll try to keep it alive," Osorio said.

is a tatzlewurm!

hey, maybe the other ones in that one;s litter carry the code, if not have legs themselves. if that's true, and they bred with other rattler populations, maybe in the future we will have leggy snakes!

It was badly burned I assume, so the legs could just be something melted to the body or fire damage..
Of course if they are vestigial legs that would be very cool..

i have legs.....does that make me special too?

If you were a snake yes..Otherwise; no..

no im afraid not

I think it depends. You should show us and let us decide.
BUT.. on another note. I think that would be kool if that snake really did have legs. Even though it wouldnt really use them.

I thought rattlers are endargered or threatend! Or is that only in Alberta? Anywho, it's a wierd story .

they shouldnt have killed it, they could have tossed it somewhere else, maybe the rattler was a hybrid between a lizard and snake to grow legs?

..... i wanted to be special

No, Good lord.. we are overrun with rattle snakes. You can have some of ours.

By the description, I would say they are vestigle or whatever that word is. In that case, it's not to uncommon. Some snakes have them on occasion.

I think there are actually traces on the rear of a snakes bone structure that were once legs similar to the cocyx (spelt wrong) that we have at the base of our spine.

i heard that humans have vestigial gills.

just call it a tail bone. easier to spell!! ^^;

Thanks for the advice however you have now confused me with the "i heard that humans have vestigial gills" Comment?

A remnant(?) of our (supposed to be) ancestors.

I think it meant that the snake actualy had something long anough to be called legs and not just little stubs.

people are still born with vestigal apendages, some people have extra ribs, some have tails, and i did hear about a guy with gills once, they didn't work, but they were still there...

someone told me that humans have vestigial gills. they said they may be nothing more than a grouping of cells

I remember discussing snakes with legs in high school.

This is a recessive trait, most common in the large constrictors. However, the "legs" are quite often just a pair of long spurs, like a pair of claws, one on each side. Some, however, actually have stunted legs that are actually jointed.

The legs are quite commonly under the layer of scales that sheds. When they are present, they are often very difficult to see without close examination, and again are often just a pair of spurs. However, when thrown into a fire, they will pop out as the scales char and the muscles and bones contract and fuse.

Even my english teacher, who grew up on a cotton plantation in Georgia, said he remembers seeing these when he was a kid and they would burn the fields in winter.

It's a well documented phenomenon. I'm afraid it's not a "mysterious missing link". Honors high school biology classes discus them.

The thyrioid and para-thyroid are believed to have developed from vestigial gills.

ROFL

That's awesome!

Egyptian? where's it from?

that has to be one of THE BEST pics i have ever seen, reminds me a bit of me as a young snake with legs....aaah those were the days

Who knows, maybe in the future thses snakes with 'spurs' will become snakes with 'legs' and look more like harmless lizzards.

you guys don't know what skinks are ?





on the gill thing.
every one ever born has had gills at some point in their development
its one of the stages we go through as an infant.
they are of course vestigal in any case because we receive all the nutrients we need including oxygen from our mother at that point

Really, we kill dozens around my house every year... those and the nasty copperheads.

Same here Zackery.

Nancy McLeod of West Richland knew she had snakes in her back yard, but she had no idea one of them was a biped.

The 2-foot-long reptile, which McLeod believes is a rattler, was discovered Thursday morning on her Red Mountain Road property as a friend was helping her burn tumbleweeds.

Pedro Osorio, 46, said he shoved a pitchfork into a tumbleweed, lifted it and saw the snake on the ground. After placing the weed onto the fire, he forked the snake and tossed it into the flames also.

Osorio said he noticed the strange little appendages on the charred snake after the fire died down.

"I called to Nancy, 'Come here and look at these little legs,' " he said.

Each leg, about a half-inch long, protrudes from the snake's body about 4 inches from the tip of the tail.

"Obviously it is a mutant," said McLeod, who wasted no time in trying to alert Kelly Cassidy, curator of the Conner Museum at Washington State University in Pullman.

"They were very, very interested," she said, noting that the researcher told her to put the snake into a sealable plastic bag and to keep it in a freezer until someone from the university could pick it up.

If the snake does have legs, it would be a rare discovery of interest to herpetologists and paleontologists.

A report in the April 1997 issue of Science News magazine discussed how paleontologists Michael W. Y. Lee and Michael W. Caldwell believed the fossil of a 40-inch-long creature with stubby rear legs may be a missing link between a snake and a lizard.

The fossil, known as a Pachyrhachis problematicus, was discovered in 1978 near Jerusalem. Its tiny legs, while fully formed, were too small to serve any purpose, noted the magazine's report.

Unfortunately, McLeod and Osorio didn't have time to realize the potential significance of their reptilian visitor.

"If I ever find another one, I'll try to keep it alive," Osorio said.


Source

I might hate snakes, but I'd try to keep something like that alive.

i think this topic has been done
use the search function man...

here we go:


http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum...snake+with+legs

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum...snake+with+legs

Vampire Hunter, again i have merged your topic. Please use the search feature before posting older news articles, more often than not they have already been posted.