Walking snake: Meet the 90 million-year-old snake that refused to lose its legs and hips
Fossils reveal snakes once possessed functional legs, challenging the notion of a linear evolutionary path. The discovery of Najash rionegrina, a 90-million-year-old terrestrial snake with intact hindlimbs and pelvis, demonstrated that evolution experimented with multiple adaptations, with some snakes retaining legs long after others lost theirs.
Fossils reveal snakes once possessed functional legs, challenging the notion of a linear evolutionary path. The discovery of Najash rionegrina, a 90-million-year-old terrestrial snake with intact hindlimbs and pelvis, demonstrated that evolution experimented with multiple adaptations, with some snakes retaining legs long after others lost theirs.
