This is the head of a water python. Is it attached to the body of a water python? Nobody knows. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. Scientists have grappled over the question for decades, but to no avail. Perhaps water pythons dig burrows and then hide in them with just their snoots sticking out, patiently waiting for an unsuspecting rat to stumble past. Perhaps their body folds up like an accordion into the back of their skull, leaving only the head nestled into the leaf litter. Or maybe, just maybe, the body simply materialises out of thin air whenever mobility is required.

It’s probably the first one… but can we ever really know for sure?

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Water Python (Liasis fuscus), Darwin Botanic Gardens, Australia