A YouTuber provides ‘legs’ to a snake, internet laps it up

A YouTuber is trying to undo for snakes what evolution accomplished nearly 150 million years ago – providing the reptile with legs. Alan Pan, a “snake lover” as he calls himself, has uploaded a video on his YouTube channel showcasing his invention of robotic legs to assist the snake in walking and explains the engineering that has gone into it.

Pan is a content producer who employs technical know-how to make homemade exoskeletons, battlebots and other innovations and his videos have received millions of views online. His snake-with-legs video too is gaining much traction on the social media.

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Video going viral

The video has received more than 2 million views and more than 1.1 lakh likes so far.

“Giving snakes their legs back,” he wrote while sharing the post, adding that the effort was to demonstrate that he was a “snake lover”.

Pan argues that he has to surpass nature’s constraints once more by giving snakes new limbs to compensate for their vestigial legs being lost before birth. It’s a different matter though that on a molecular level, snakes actually have all the necessary components to grow legs but have not opted to do so!

A plastic tube with legs

His invention consists of a long clear plastic tube connected to four legs, each consisting of three joints. The snake has to slither inside the tube and then when it moves, the robotic legs too move forward. As there is no space for the snake to turn back – or sideways, for that matter – the ‘legs’ only works in one direction – forward. Also, as the tube is open, the snake can at any point of time slither out of it.

Many social media users though have taken a liking to the video, which they describe as “heart-warming”.  “Finally, someone cares enough to give the snakes their legs back,” wrote a user.

What you think depends on whether you are an ophiophilist — a person who loves snakes — or not!

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