They warn if you do find one of these, you shouldn’t try to touch or handle the animal but give it plenty of space and let other people in the area know it’s there. Though it’s true that they’re venomous, they’re also docile and New Zealand has no official record of bitings, DoC states. The appearance of the creature in the video is much like the yellow-bellied sea snake, an occasional visitor to New Zealand waters.Īccording to the Department of Conservation’s (DoC) website, this sea snake is a protected species in New Zealand, meaning that it’s illegal to kill or harass a sea snake or keep one without a permit. “WHEN THE HECK DID WE START HAVING SNAKES,” asked one TikTok user.Īges ago, apparently, many were quick to point out. Several TikTok users were puzzled by the creature’s similarity in appearance to that of an eel, or something in between a snake and eel - a “sneel”. “Look at him g- ” and on that suspenseful note, the clip abruptly ends. The camera zooms in on the tail - it’s distinctively different from the rest of the body: as if dipped in yellow paint, checkered in cheetah-like black spots. “What have we found, bro?” Don’t know if it’s an eel or a snake,” one man is heard saying as he slowly lifts the creature’s head with a stick. It’s not clear if this creature is dead or alive, friend or foe. In the 12-second clip, posted on December 24, we see first a dusty grey-skinned creature lying motionless across the sand, its long body half in sun, half in shade. Photo / Samantha CooperĪ group of people were startled when they found a venomous sea snake on the beach, posting a video of the discovery to TikTok. This one washed up in Northland in May last year the snake in the West Coast TikTok video is believed to be the same species. Indonesia and Malaysia have territory on Borneo, which is also home to the sultanate of Brunei.Around six to 10 yellow-bellied sea snakes are sighted in New Zealand every year. The WWF, the international group formerly known as World Wildlife Fund, said 361 animal and plant species have been discovered since 1996 on Borneo, underscoring its unparalleled biological diversity.īut it said that widespread logging has left Borneo with only half of its former forest cover, down from 75 percent in the mid-1980s. Scientists named their find the Kapuas Mud Snake, and speculated it might only occur in the Kapuas River drainage system. Its ability to change color has kept it hidden from science until now," said Bambang Supriyanto, a WWF specialist on Borneo. "The discovery of the 'chameleon' snake exposes one of nature's best-kept secrets. The 1.6-foot-long snake was discovered last year in wetlands and swamp forests around the Kapuas River in the Betung Kerihun National Park in the Indonesian part of Borneo island. Reptiles typically change color to camouflage themselves from predators. "When I retrieved it a few minutes later, it was almost entirely white." "I put the reddish-brown snake in a dark bucket," said Mark Auliya, a reptile expert and a consultant for the group. The ability to change skin color is known in some reptiles, such as the chameleon, but scientists have seen it rarely with snakes and have not yet understood this phenomenon, the group said in a statement. JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Researchers scouring swamps in the heart of Borneo island have discovered a venomous species of snake that can change its skin color, the conservation group WWF announced Tuesday. A scientist holds the head of Enhydris Gyii, known in West Kalimantan as Kapuas Mud Snake. Thursday, JPosted: 0555 GMT (1355 HKT) Researchers scouring through the swamps of Borneo island have discovered a new species of snake that can change its skin color.
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