Mysterious "Hairy Snake" Found in the Sakon Nakhon Province of Thailand

A still image from one of the videos posted to Waraporn Panyasarn’s TikTok. *(@firstfirstmini / TikTok)*

A mysterious “hairy snake” found in the Sakon Nakhon province of Thailand has people wondering what exactly it is.

The snake is reminiscent in appearance to the North American fur-bearing trout, although no specimens—living or dead—have ever been found to support the fur-bearing trout’s existence and it is widely considered to be a tall tale.

According to Newsflare, the snake was found by local man Tu, 49, who noticed it moving slowly in dirty water near his home while he was out walking.

Tu retrieved the snake and placed it in an earthen water jar, after which he showed the captured reptile to members of his family, who were confounded by its bizarre, dragon-like appearance.

"I have never seen a snake that looked like this before. My family and I thought it would be useful to let people find out what it is and research about it," said Tu's 30-year-old niece, Waraporn Panyasarn.

Panyasarn took a video of the creature and posted it to TikTok on February 26th, hoping an expert would be able to identify it.

@firstfirstmini ตัวอะไรใครรู้บอกที #งูมีขนหรือลูกพญานาค ♬ เสียงต้นฉบับ - เซียง'ง

Some locals commented to say that the seemingly hairy snake could be a puff-faced water snake with moss growing from its body due to the length of time it spends in rocky crevices and still, shallow swamp water.

Panyasarn was reluctant to accept that as an answer, since, as she said, “I don't know what the body hair is, because I tried to use a rake and it didn't come off at all.”

However, Thai snake expert and science educator Nirut "Nick" Chomngam posted a video to his YouTube channel corroborating the suspicions of locals and explaining that he believed the animal to be a skull snake, due to the appearance of its nose, and that the moss and algae likely responsible for the snake's hairy appearance has grown into its skin, but should be shed when it molts.

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