Nicknamed Monty Python, the mutant serpent has an extra working eye on top of its head that may have come from a twin absorbed by Monty in the womb.
The baby carpet python was discovered in March on a highway near the small town of Humpty Doo. It only survived a few weeks before it died.
It was 40cm long and just three months old when it was picked up by rangers.
Experts at the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Service posted pictures of Monty to Facebook, branding the find "peculiar".
The young snake was tricky to feed, they said, because its deformities stopped it from eating properly.
Ranger Ray Chatto confirmed the serpent died last week.
"It's remarkable it was able to survive so long in the wild with it’s deformity and he was struggling to feed before he died last week," Ray told NT News.
It was first thought Monty had two heads fused together, but X-rays showed it actually had a third eye socket with a functioning eyeball.
Rangers said the deformity was likely the result of a natural mutation.
"It was generally agreed that the eye likely developed very early during the embryonic stage of development," they wrote on Facebook.
"It is extremely unlikely that this is from environmental factors and is almost certainly a natural occurrence as malformed reptiles are relatively common."
Snake expert Professor Bryan Fry reckons Monty's extra eye is the remnant of an unborn twin.
The University fo Queensland scientist told the BBC the peeper may have been "the last little bit of a twin that's been absorbed".
The baby carpet python was discovered in March on a highway near the small town of Humpty Doo. It only survived a few weeks before it died.
It was 40cm long and just three months old when it was picked up by rangers.
Experts at the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Service posted pictures of Monty to Facebook, branding the find "peculiar".
The young snake was tricky to feed, they said, because its deformities stopped it from eating properly.
Ranger Ray Chatto confirmed the serpent died last week.
"It's remarkable it was able to survive so long in the wild with it’s deformity and he was struggling to feed before he died last week," Ray told NT News.
It was first thought Monty had two heads fused together, but X-rays showed it actually had a third eye socket with a functioning eyeball.
Rangers said the deformity was likely the result of a natural mutation.
"It was generally agreed that the eye likely developed very early during the embryonic stage of development," they wrote on Facebook.
"It is extremely unlikely that this is from environmental factors and is almost certainly a natural occurrence as malformed reptiles are relatively common."
Snake expert Professor Bryan Fry reckons Monty's extra eye is the remnant of an unborn twin.
The University fo Queensland scientist told the BBC the peeper may have been "the last little bit of a twin that's been absorbed".
Music: "Inspired" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Source: NT Parks and Wildlife Commission, The Sun
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