The people of Barbados attacked the discovery of the world's smallest snake

The tiny snake has sparked a heated debate in Barbados. Residents of the rich Caribbean nation are heating blogs and clogging radio stations to flare their anger at the US scientist who has just announced his discovery of a small snake. most in the world and named it "Leptotyphlops carlae" after his wife Carla earlier this week.

Mr. Barb Atkins, 43, of Barbados, said: 'If he finds it necessary to blow the trumpet himself, it is fine. But my mother, even though she was just a normal housewife, showed me that snake when I was very young. '

Another author of the Barbados Free Press blog even showed a more harsh tone. The author poses the question of how can someone "detect" a snake that is familiar to locals with the name snake.

An author claiming to be Margaret Knight said: 'Why does this man dare come here and name the snake after his wife?'

The man the author mentioned is the evolutionary biologist S. Blair Hedges of Pennsylvania State University. His team has also discovered the world's smallest lizard species in the Dominican Republic and the world's smallest frog in Cuba.

Recently Hedges became the first person to name a tiny snake, so small that it could be curled up on a 25-cent coin in the United States, when he published his observations as well as his genetic test results. in Zootaxa . Adult snake is less than 4 inches (10 centimeters) long.

The picture was taken by US scientist S. Blair Hedges in 2006 and published on Sunday, August 3, 2008. It is the smallest snake in the world, curled up on a 25-cent coin in the United States. .Hedges said he discovered the world's smallest species on a Sunday in the eastern Caribbean island of Barbados with adult sizes less than 4 inches (10 centimeters) long.He named the tiny snake 'Leptotyphlops carlae' after the wife and reptile expert Carla Ann Hass.(Photo: AP / Pennsylvania State University, S. Blair Hedges)

In a conversation with The Associated Press last Friday, Hedges said he understood the angry reaction of the Barbados people. But according to established scientific practice, the first person fully described a species considered to have discovered the species and has the right to name the species.

He added that most of the newly discovered species are popular with locals, but the word 'discovery' refers to the work done in the laboratory to complete the genetic profile of that species. In his research, he said that his two samples were discovered in 1889 and 1963.

He said: 'Trust me, there is no false statement here.'

Damon Corrie, president of the Caribbean Reptile Association, admits that Hedges was the first to learn about science and name the snake, but the so-called discovery or discovery made local people become lack of courtesy.

Corrie said: 'People have the impression that residents here depend on foreigners who come and show them what is in their backyard.'

Karl Watson, a historian and an ornithologist at the University of West Indies in Barbados, says that people are excited about an extremely small or extremely large animal.

He said: 'Perhaps they reacted a bit too much. Nationalism has a little deviation. '

Hedges agrees: 'I think they're bringing the story too far. Snake is a non-political topic ".

Discover the world's smallest snake in Barbados