Scientists detailed the oldest known snake fossil, which was in remarkable condition, but also showed four distinct legs.
According to BBC News, authors of a study published in the journal Science determined the fossil was 113 million years old and had several similarities with modern-day snakes. The researchers stated the snakes evolved to walk on land rather than swim and also used their limbs in a less-than-obvious manner.
The researchers believe the snake still slithered, using its limbs to better grip its prey. Another study published recently detailed how snakes shut down their victim's vital organs by cutting off their blood flow, rather than suffocating them, which would take longer.
"It is generally accepted that snakes evolved from lizards at some point in the distant past. What scientists don't know yet is when they evolved, why they evolved, and what type of lizard they evolved from," study lead author Dave Martill, of the University of Portsmouth, said in a press release. "This fossil answers some very important questions, for example it now seems clear to us that snakes evolved from burrowing lizards, not from marine lizards."
The fossil was first discovered in Brazil, but Martill spotted it at the Museum Solnhofen in Germany.
"The fossil was part of a larger exhibition of fossils from the Cretaceous period," he said. "It was clear that no-one had appreciated its importance, but when I saw it I knew it was an incredibly significant specimen."
Martill then met with Nick Longrich, of the University of Bath's Milner Centre for Evolution, to share what he believed he had stumbled across.
"They're actually very highly specialised - they have very long, skinny fingers and toes, with little claws on the end. What we think [these animals] are doing is they've stopped using them for walking and they're using them for grasping their prey," he told BBC News. "It would sort of embrace or hug its prey with its forelimbs and hindlimbs. So it's the huggy snake."
