Tropidophis aka thunder snake

Check out this incredible defensive display by a Bahamian snake.

This is a Tropidophis aka thunder snake with one of most spectacular defensive behaviours in the animal kingdom.

How nuts is the speed at which the eyes flood with blood and fully clear again?

What you see here is cephalic autohaemorrhaging or deliberate ejecting blood from the head. They’re amongst the only animals that show this behaviour.

We recorded this display because prior no visual documentation or detailed information on the process existed.

I want to emphasise that the pressure applied to the snake to trigger the autohaemorrhaging was absolutely minimal.

Afterwards, the snake seemed in perfect health and was returned to the same rock under which it was found.

The exact function of this behaviour is yet to be fully understood but the expelled blood could exacerbate the snake’s other off-putting defensive behaviours to convince a predator that the snake is no good to eat.

An understanding of the physiological processes involved in the incredibly fast onset and stop of haemorrhaging could even find applications in wound treatments across medical fields.