A woman in China was sleeping in her bedroom when she heard a strange scratching noise. When Duan Qiongxiu turned on the lights, she saw a “monster working its way along the wall using his claw.”
The frightened 66-year-old woman from Suining, grabbed a nearby shoe and beat the snake to death. Right out of a scene from a creepy science-fiction or horror movie, the bizarre snake had a single claw-foot growing out of its side. Qiongxiu placed the 16-inch reptile in a bottle of alcohol to preserve it.
Quite rare, the mutated snake is being studied at China’s West Normal University. While numerous causes and theories about the unusual snake are being discussed online, it is far more common for snakes to have two heads than an appendage sticking out its side. An autopsy will be performed.
Visit the Telegraph for a photo of the snake.
Snake skin photo courtesy Thomas Picard
Perhaps a mutagenic effect from industrial toxins caused the combination of lizard and snake chromosomes to occur within a contaminated breeding site.
If this is the same China as the one whose environmental degradation I hear and see on a regular basis, then two reptilian strands of DNA being paired up courtesy of Chinese progress is a distinct possibility.
Or could it be the return of the dragon?