the-awkward-turt:

the-awkward-turt:

I love elephant trunk snakes so freaking much. Can you imagine seeing this thick, 6-foot serpentine shape slithering through the murky water, closer and closer and then…

This dorky little puppy dog face pokes out of the water.

I did a little reading and these snakes are actually even cooler than I initially thought.

Look at this happy baby puppy-snake with his fish. (Source)

Based on appearance I had assumed they were constrictors, or at least most closely related to constrictors, but they are actually in the primitive monogeneric family Acrochordidae and are about halfway between colubrids and boas/pythons in terms of evolutionary relationships.

Elephant trunk snakes are the largest fully aquatic snake (they can’t support their own body weight and can hardly move out of the water) and can even be found in brackish water. They can stay underwater for as long as 40 minutes and can undergo supplementary gas exchange through their skin similar to an amphibians (and some turtles).

(Source)

Their other common name “file snake” comes from the fact that their scales don’t overlap but actually poke out from the skin in sharp pyramid-shapes that help them grasp their fishy prey. In between these scales are sensory tubercles that allow the snakes sense their prey in murky water.

Here’s someone handling an adult. Apparently they have extremely slow metabolisms even for snakes and tend to be very chill and lazy.