{"id":34950,"date":"2025-07-30T18:23:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T18:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/34950\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T18:23:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T18:23:08","slug":"worlds-smallest-snake-found-again-after-almost-20-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/34950\/","title":{"rendered":"World\u2019s Smallest Snake Found Again After Almost 20 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barbados\u00a0\u2014(Map)<\/a><\/p>\n

The world\u2019s smallest snake \u2013 the Barbados threadsnake \u2013 hadn\u2019t been seen in almost 20 years. Scientists were beginning to think that the tiny snake might be extinct. But in March, researchers searching a forest in Barbados found one of the snakes under a rock.<\/p>\n

The Barbados threadsnake is found in Barbados, an island nation in the Caribbean. An adult threadsnake measures just 3 to 4 inches (8 to 10 centimeters) long. The snakes are blind, and live in small holes in the ground. They look a bit like earthworms, but many earthworms are actually larger.<\/p>\n

Scientists believe the threadsnakes are probably about as small as a snake can get and still be able to eat. \u201cObviously, the smaller you are, the fewer things you can eat,\u201d says Connor Blades, one of the scientists who found the snake. The snakes eat termites and termite eggs. <\/p>\n

\"BarbadosThe world\u2019s smallest snake \u2013 the Barbados threadsnake \u2013 hadn\u2019t been seen in almost 20 years. But in March, researchers found one of the snakes. An adult threadsnake measures just 3 to 4 inches (8 to 10 centimeters) long.
(Source: Connor Blades, via Re:Wild<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The Barbados threadsnake was first reported in 1889. But between 1889 and 2006, the snakes were only spotted four times. The last time a Barbados threadsnake was spotted was 2006. Biologist S. Blair Hedges found the snake that time, and officially identified and named it. He describes it as a \u201crare species\u201c.<\/p>\n

The snakes aren\u2019t just rare. There has also been a lot of pressure on the tiny snakes. The threadsnakes normally live under rocks in the forests of Barbados. But 98% of the island\u2019s forests have been cut down for farming. On top of that, another small, blind snake, called the Brahminy blind snake, has arrived on the island. These invasive snakes eat similar food and have spread rapidly on the island.<\/p>\n

Re:Wild, a group that works to protect wildlife and habitats worldwide, had put Barbados threadsnakes on a list of species that had been \u201clost to science\u201d. In 2024 and 2025, scientists searched 20 different locations in Barbados, but only found Brahminy blind snakes.<\/p>\n

\"BarbadosBetween 1889 and 2006, the snakes were only spotted four times. The last time a Barbados threadsnake was spotted was 2006. Finally, in March, 2025, scientists found the Barbados threadsnake again (above).
(Source: Connor Blades, via Re:Wild<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

But in March, scientists from the Barbados Ministry of the Environment* and Re:Wild made a very careful search in one of the few natural forests left on the island.<\/p>\n

After spending hours, and turning over hundreds of stones, Mr. Blades, along with Justin Springer of Re:Wild, spotted a stone stuck under the root of a tree. Mr. Springer reported that he \u201chad a feeling\u201d about the stone. Sure enough, there was a tiny snake under the rock. <\/p>\n

\"BarbadosBy taking a video of the snake and slowing the video down, Mr. Blades was able to confirm that it was a Barbados threadsnake. The pale yellow lines running along the snake\u2019s body helped identify the snake (above).
(Source: Connor Blades, via Re:Wild<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Without a microscope, the scientists couldn\u2019t be sure they\u2019d found a Barbados threadsnake. They brought it to a lab at the University of the West Indies. By taking a video of the snake and slowing the video down, Mr. Blades was able to confirm that it was a Barbados threadsnake. The pale yellow lines running along the snake\u2019s body helped identify the snake.<\/p>\n

The scientists returned the snake to the place where they\u2019d found it. About a month later, they found another threadsnake in another part of the forest.<\/p>\n

Now that scientists have an idea of where to look for the threadsnakes, they plan to search even more carefully. They hope the research will help them protect this and other important Barbados species.<\/p>\n

Did You Know\u2026?
For the Barbados threadsnakes to reproduce (to make new snakes), it takes a male and a female. Then the female lays a single egg. The invasive Brahminy blind snake females can lay eggs all by themselves.<\/p>\n

* The full name of the department is the Barbados Ministry of the Environment and National Beautification.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\ud83d\ude15<\/p>\n

This map has not been loaded because of your cookie choices<\/a>. To view the content, you can accept ‘Non-necessary’ cookies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barbados\u00a0\u2014(Map) The world\u2019s smallest snake \u2013 the Barbados threadsnake \u2013 hadn\u2019t been seen in almost 20 years. Scientists…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-34950","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}