When archaeologist Ryan Botkin set out on a field survey in Ohio, he didn’t expect his biggest discovery of the day to have scales.
As Botkin and his coworkers packed up to leave, one teammate suddenly pointed out a tiny snake slithering through the grass. The little reptile clearly spotted them first — and was doing his best to make a stealthy escape.
Botkin, who loves snapping photos for his two sons whenever he’s on the road, quickly pulled out his phone to capture the moment.
“It was just a quick picture of a snake that I took to show my kids some of the things I get to see when I work outside,” Botkin told The Dodo.
Moments after the photo was taken, the snake found a better hiding place — and disappeared completely. Botkin tucked his phone away and thought nothing more of it.
But later, as he looked back at the picture, he realized something funny: he couldn’t find the snake.
Even the guy who took the photo had to squint to spot his own subject.
Once he finally found the well-camouflaged critter, Botkin decided to post the photo on Facebook to see if others could spot the sneaky snake, too.
The results? Instant viral fun.
“It got a LOT of reactions and comments,” Botkin said. “People really liked it and thought it was fun and challenging. I didn’t get any negative comments — just people joking that there was no snake in the picture.”
The tiny snake, of course, has no idea he’s now an internet celebrity. He was just trying to stay hidden — and ended up proving he’s a true master of camouflage.
