Ethiopian highlands yield a new species of egg-eating snake

A new species of egg-eating snake, the white-throated egg-eater, has been documented in Ethiopia's Bale Mountains, according to a study by researchers at Germany's University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. The nonvenomous snake eats only bird eggs, cracking them with specialized throat vertebrae, and was first collected as a juvenile in 2019 before genetic testing and captive breeding confirmed it was distinct from a similar species.

Researchers faced an ethical snag common to taxonomy: formally naming a species requires a preserved specimen, but the team didn't want to kill one. They waited years until a snake killed by local villagers turned up, and used that body to complete the description.

The study notes the snake appears to be endemic to a limited area and faces no real threat except people, who kill snakes on sight even though none in the region are dangerous.

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