Earliest snakes showed remarkable brain and ecological diversity, study finds

Long before snakes became one of Earth's most widespread vertebrate groups, they were already, it seems, remarkably well-equipped for the world. New research published in Nature overturns the assumption that early snakes were simple, ecologically constrained creatures, revealing instead that these ancient animals possessed sophisticated brains and occupied strikingly diverse ecological roles from near the very beginning of their lineage. The discovery invites us to reconsider a familiar story about evolution — that complexity is earned slowly — and suggests that some lineages arrive, in a sens