Snake with foot found in China

A snake with a single clawed foot has
been discovered in China, according to
reports.

Dean Qiongxiu, 66, said she discovered
the reptile clinging to the wall of her
bedroom with its talons in the middle of
the night.
"I woke up and heard a strange scratching
sound. I turned on the light and saw this
monster working its way along the wall
using his claw," said Mrs Duan of Suining,
southwest China.
Mrs Duan said she was so scared she
grabbed a shoe and beat the snake to
death before preserving its body in a
bottle of alcohol.
The snake – 16 inches long and the
thickness of a little finger – is now being
studied at the Life Sciences Department
at China's West Normal University in
Nanchang.
Snake expert Long Shuai said: "It is truly
shocking but we won't know the cause
until we've conducted an autopsy."
A more common mutation among snakes
is the growth of a second head, which
occurs in a similar way to the formation of
Siamese twins in humans.
Such animals are often caught and
preserved as lucky tokens but have very
little chance of surviving in the wild
anyway, especially as the heads have a
tendency to attack each other.