There’s not much an Aussie farmer can see in the wild that leaves them speechless, but a ‘crazy’ encounter in Western Australia recently left one man stunned. An “Australian kangaroo snake” navigating the hot, red outback dirt, claimed Brendon Hulme who filmed the unusual scene.
But as it turns out, it was something else entirely, Yahoo News can confirm.
After sharing a video showing what appears to be a young brown snake leaping across the sand, jumping inches into the air, many were quick to question whether “jumping snakes” actually exist.
“As an Australian, this is the first time I’m seeing or hearing about one of these, and I don’t like it,” said one responding to Brendon’s video. While another admitted, “at this point I deeply believe that Australia has snakes that can fly.”
Although often mistaken as a deadly brown snake, Josh Newbert, a wildlife volunteer and licensed snake catcher, confirmed to Yahoo it’s likely a legless lizard and not a snake at all.
“There are many different species all over the country. It would be impossible to give a positive ID on the animal without an exact location,” he said. “I’ve seen a few smaller snakes and legless lizards do this as a defence mechanism because as you can imagine the prey animal would be extremely shocked”.
What are legless lizards?
Unlike brown snakes, which have toxic venom that can kill, legless lizards are “completely harmless”, Josh said. In fact, they’re “not even inclined to bite if held”.
There are a few distinct differences between legless lizards and snakes, so it’ll pay to be aware. Snakes are identifiable by their lack of eyelids and big scales on their bellies. Legless lizards on the other hand have eyelids, small belly scales, two lungs and a non-forked tongue.
The Delma legless lizard is thought to resemble a brown snake, but is completely harmless. Source: Australian Museum
Jumping behaviour ‘pretty common’ among legless lizards
Legless lizards are rarely witnessed in the wild, mostly because, according to the Australian Museum, they “live down burrows, in dense grass tussocks, and under rocks and flee rapidly when disturbed”.
While he has seen a couple, Josh, who goes by Newy online, said, “I’ve never witnessed one go that crazy with the jumping along the road” referring to the video.
While it can’t be confirmed, one person in the comments suggested the legless lizard is a Delma, the species that closely resembles a brown snake.
“For anyone wondering, no it’s not a snake. It’s a type of legless lizard called a Delma,” they said. “This kind of jumping behaviour is pretty common across a number of the different Delma species”.
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