Latest news with #Springer
The Irish Sun
13 hours ago
- Science
- The Irish Sun
Mysterious record-breaking snake that vanished for DECADES finally found after creature spotted ‘hiding under a rock'
A RECORD-breaking snake lost to science for nearly two decades has finally resurfaced on the island of Barbados. The Barbados threadsnake - the smallest snake in the world - was rediscovered under a rock during an ecological survey in March. Advertisement 2 The small serpent is at the limit of how small a snake can be, measuring only about three to four inches long when it is fully grown Credit: AFP The tiny reptile can coil itself to the size of a coin, and had been on a global list of 4,800 lost plant, animal and fungi species compiled by biodiversity organisation Re:wild. The Barbados Ministry of the Environment and National Beautification had been searching for the threadsnake and several other native reptiles for more than a year. 'Barbados threadsnakes are blind snakes, so they're very cryptic,' said Connor Blades, a project officer with the Ministry of Environment in Barbados, who helped rediscover the threadsnake. 'They're quite rare also, it seems. There have only been a handful of confirmed sightings since 1889, so there are not many people who have ever seen it, unfortunately.' Advertisement READ MORE ON WILDLIFE The small serpent is at the limit of how small a snake can be, measuring only about three to four inches long when it is fully grown. Experts have long known that the Barbados threadsnake was an elusive species - with each confirmed sighting having several decades between them. The threadsnake also closely resembles the Brahminy blind snake, also known as the or flowerpot snake - which makes identifying them difficult. Scientists often need a magnifying glass to tell them apart. Advertisement Most read in Science The Barbados threadsnake reproduces sexually and females lay a clutch of only one egg, while the Brahminy blind snake can produce fertile eggs without mating - a phenomenon called parthenogenesis. 'I began to look over the snake and it was clear to me that I really needed to take it to a microscope to get a proper look at it,' added Blades. 'The morphological differences between the threadsnake and blind snake are really difficult to tell by eye, particularly because it was the first threadsnake we had seen, so we weren't familiar with the species yet.' Meet the army of snake hunters prowling Brit holiday island for 7ft serpents 'leaving tourists too scared to go in sea' Blades, alongside Justin Springer, Caribbean programme officer for Re:wild, were looking under rocks for any signs of tiny threadsnakes during the survey in March. Advertisement One rock trapped under a tree root caught their eye. 'I was making a joke and in my head I said, 'I smell a threadsnake,'' said Springer. 'I just had a feeling, but I couldn't be sure because we turned over a lot of rocks before that and we saw nothing.' To their surprise, they found a tiny threadsnake. Advertisement 'When you are so accustomed to looking for things and you don't see them, you are shocked when you actually find it,' added Springer. 'You can't believe it. That's how I felt. You don't want to get your hopes up too high.' The snake was then taken to the University of the West Indies and examined under a microscope to confirm its identity before being returned to its forest in central Barbados. It had all the characteristics of a threadsnake - pale orange dorsal lines running from its head to tail, eyes located on the side of its head, a rostral scale on its nose and no gland lines on its head. Advertisement The CBER project is set to continue surveying the island to better understand the threadsnake's habitat range. This way it can design conservation actions to protect it. The most recently found threadsnake was found in the forest, which only cover a small area of Barbados. Some 98 per cent of the island's primary forest has been cut down for agriculture over the past 500 years. Advertisement 'It's an important reservoir for biodiversity on the island,' said Blades referring to the forests where the threadsnake was found. 'If the threadsnake population isn't very dense, I'm worried about their ability to find mates—particularly if their habitat is under threat and being degraded.' 2 Experts have long-known that the Barbados threadsnake was an illusive species - with each confirmed sighting having several decades between them Credit: AFP
Fox News
2 days ago
- Sport
- Fox News
Blue Jays' George Springer hit in head with 96 mph fastball, leaves game with help of trainers
There was a scary moment in Baltimore on Tuesday night when George Springer was hit in the helmet with a 96 mph fastball. The Toronto Blue Jays outfielder was in the batter's box in the top of the ninth with the Orioles two outs away from a victory. Kade Strowd was on the bump for Toronto, but on the first pitch Springer saw from the right-hander, it drilled him. Strowd was visibly upset, and Springer lay on the dirt for a little while as he was tended to by staff. Springer walked off the field with some help from trainers. Blue Jays manager John Schneider hinted that the situation could have been much worse. "It kind of got him in his shoulder, then helmet, which… thankfully, he was able to turn a little bit, too," Schneider told reporters after the game. Schneider said Springer was being evaluated at the time of his media availability. He was not in the starting lineup for the first game of their day-night doubleheader on Wednesday. The Blue Jays recently placed catcher Alejandro Kirk on the seven-day concussion injured list. Toronto owns a 5.5-game lead over the New York Yankees in the AL East, as they continue their hot streak, and the Bombers' season continues to seemingly slip away. Springer has had a resurgence this season in Toronto, as his .291 batting average is his highest since batting .292 in Houston back in 2019. His .383 on-base percentage is also his highest since then, and he's already driven in more runs (57) this season than all of last year (56). He's also one home run shy of his total of 19 from the 2-24 campaign.
The Hindu
2 days ago
- Science
- The Hindu
World's smallest known snake makes big comeback
For nearly two decades, no one had spotted the world's smallest-known snake. Some scientists worried that maybe the Barbados threadsnake had become extinct, but one sunny morning, Connor Blades lifted a rock in a tiny forest in the eastern Caribbean island and held his breath. 'After a year of searching, you begin to get a little pessimistic,' said Blades, project officer with the Ministry of Environment in Barbados. The snake can fit comfortably on a coin, so it was able to elude scientists for almost 20 years. Too tiny to identify with the naked eye, Blades placed it in a small glass jar and added soil, substrate and leaf litter. Several hours later, in front of a microscope at the University of the West Indies, Blades looked at the specimen. It wriggled in the petri dish, making it nearly impossible to identify. 'It was a struggle,' Blades recalled, adding that he shot a video of the snake and finally identified it thanks to a still image. It had pale yellow dorsal lines running through its body, and its eyes were located on the side of its head. 'I tried to keep a level head,' Blades recalled, knowing that the Barbados threadsnake looks very much like a Brahminy blind snake, best known as the flower pot snake, which is a bit longer and has no dorsal lines. On Wednesday, the Re:wild conservation group, which is collaborating with the local environment ministry, announced the rediscovery of the Barbados threadsnake. 'Rediscovering one of our endemics on many levels is significant,' said Justin Springer, Caribbean program officer for Re:wild who helped rediscover the snake along with Blades. 'It reminds us that we still have something important left that plays an important role in our ecosystem.' The Barbados threadsnake has only been seen a handful of times since 1889. It was on a list of 4,800 plant, animal and fungi species that Re:wild described as 'lost to science.' The snake is blind, burrows in the ground, eats termites and ants and lays one single, slender egg. Fully grown, it measures up to four inches (10 centimeters). 'They're very cryptic,' Blades said. 'You can do a survey for a number of hours, and even if they are there, you may actually not see them.' But on March 20 at around 10:30 a.m., Blades and Springer surrounded a jack-in-the-box tree in central Barbados and started looking under rocks while the rest of the team began measuring the tree, whose distribution is very limited in Barbados. 'That's why the story is so exciting,' Springer said. 'It all happened around the same time.' S. Blair Hedges, a professor at Temple University and director of its center for biology, was the first to identify the Barbados threadsnake. Previously, it was mistakenly lumped in with another species. In 2008, Hedges' discovery was published in a scientific journal, with the snake baptized Tetracheilostoma carlae, in honor of his wife. 'I spent days searching for them,' Hedges recalled. 'Based on my observations and the hundreds of rocks, objects that I turned over looking for this thing without success, I do think it is a rare species.' That was June 2006, and there were only three other such specimens known at the time: two at a London museum and a third at a museum collection in California that was wrongly identified as being from Antigua instead of Barbados, Hedges said. Hedges said that he didn't realize he had collected a new species until he did a genetic analysis. 'The aha moment was in the laboratory,' he said, noting that the discovery established the Barbados threadsnake as the world's smallest-known snake. Hedges then became inundated for years with letters, photographs and emails from people thinking they had found more Barbados threadsnakes. Some of the pictures were of earthworms, he recalled. 'It was literally years of distraction,' he said. Scientists hope the rediscovery means that the Barbados threadsnake could become a champion for the protection of wildlife habitat. A lot of endemic species on the tiny island have gone extinct, including the Barbados racer, the Barbados skink and a particular species of cave shrimp. 'I hope they can get some interest in protecting it,' Hedges said. 'Barbados is kind of unique in the Caribbean for a bad reason: it has the least amount of original forest, outside of Haiti.'
Time of India
2 days ago
- Sport
- Time of India
Blue Jays' George Springer Drilled by 96mph Pitch in Scary Scene at Camden Yards
Image via Imagn: George Springer In a frightening moment that left fans in the stadium holding their breath and stunned viewers around the world, Toronto Blue Jays outfielder George Springer was struck in the head by a blazing 96 mph fastball in the ninth inning. The pitch came from Baltimore Orioles rookie right-hander Kade Strowd and immediately sent shockwaves through Camden Yards. Springer lay motionless for several tense moments before being helped off the field entirely, prompting serious concern for his condition. George Springer Dropped to the Ground for a Minute Before Walking Off the Field The pitch rode high and tight, striking Springer square on the left ear flap of his batting helmet. The impact was so forceful that the helmet flew several feet as Springer collapsed to the ground. Blue Jays manager John Schneider sprinted from the dugout the instant it happened, quickly joined by the team's medical staff. — thejaysnation (@thejaysnation) After a few tense moments, Springer managed to get to his knees and, about two minutes later, stood up on his own, drawing a sigh of relief from fans and teammates alike. Meanwhile, amid the chaos, the Baltimore Orioles cruised to an 11-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night. Jays Manager John Schneider Shares a Positive Update on Springer After a Vicious Blow Fortunately, Blue Jays manager John Schneider later shared some encouraging news about George Springer's condition following the scary hit. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like My Brows Look Fuller Looking Now [See Results] NULASTIN Learn More Undo "He's doing all right. Kind of got him on the shoulder and then the helmet. Thankfully, he was able to turn a little bit, too," Schneider said. "That's the worst part of baseball, for any side, when a pitch gets thrown that high. You don't think about baseball, you think about the human. It's scary, it happens, it sucks.' Schneider also noted that Springer was communicating with him while still on the ground, which he called a promising sign after such a frightening blow to the head. "He was alert the whole time. Which is a good thing. But you hate to see that happen to anyone at any time." The incident comes at a tough time for the Blue Jays, who are already without All-Star catcher Alejandro Kirk. Springer, 35, has been in strong form lately, batting .291 with 18 home runs and an impressive .889 OPS, showing signs of a true resurgence this season. FAQs 1- Has George Springer faced some similar injury bugs in the past? Yes, the Blue Jays outfielder faced a Grade 2 strain of his left oblique in 2021 and lower back spasms earlier this year 2- How long will Springer be out of action? It doesn't seem the Blue Jays outfielder will miss any upcoming matches for his team, as his condition is stable, as confirmed by manager John Schneider 3- What is the Toronto Blue Jays' ranking in the American League on 29 July 2025? They are currently in 1st place in the AL East, ahead of the Yankees by 5.5 games and the Red Sox by 6.5 games Also read: Ty Gibbs Turns $1M NASCAR In-Season Tournament Challenge Win into a Heartfelt Post-Race Gesture Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
New York Post
2 days ago
- Sport
- New York Post
Blue Jays' George Springer shaken up after being drilled in head by pitch in ‘scary' scene
George Springer is doing 'all right' Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters after the outfielder was hit in the head with a 96 mph pitch from Kade Stroud. The Blue Jays star was struck in the ninth inning of a game Toronto lost 11-4 to the Orioles at Camden Yards on Monday night. It sent Springer down into the dirt almost immediately. 3 Blue Jays outfielder George Springer (4) gets hit by a pitch during the ninth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect Springer lay motionless for several moments before he finally started to move and appeared to mouth the word 'wow' as the Blue Jays medical staff looked at him. He eventually got up and was able to walk back to the dugout with two members of the team's staff flanking him. 3 George Springer #4 of the Toronto Blue Jays is injured after being hit by a pitch in the helmet by pitcher Kade Strowd of the Baltimore Orioles (not pictured) during the ninth inning at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on July 28, 2025 in Baltimore. Getty Images 'He's doing all right,' Schneider told reporters after the game. 'Kind of got him on the shoulder and then the helmet. Thankfully, he was able to turn a little bit, too.' Schneider said Springer had been alert the whole time after he got hit with the pitch and that he had been 'kind of talking' to the Blue Jays skipper. 'That's the worst part of baseball for any side, when a pitch gets thrown that high,' Schneider said. 'You don't think about baseball. You think about the human. It's scary. It happens. It sucks.' 3 Blue Jays' George Springer (4) is helped by trainers after being hit by a pitch by Baltimore Orioles reliever Kade Strowd during the ninth inning of a baseball game, Monday, July 28, 2025, in Baltimore. AP Springer had been examined after the game and the extent of any injuries related to the hit by the pitch was not known, the Toronto Star reported. The Blue Jays already have an injury issue with All-Star catcher Alejandro Kirk, who is dealing with a concussion, but is looking like he'll return closer to the weekend. Springer has had a successful season for Toronto, hitting .291 and recording 18 home runs. The Blue Jays are sitting in first in the American League East and hold a 5 ½ -game lead over the Yankees in the division.
