[Photo] Barbados Threadsnake (Leptotyphlops carlae). Credit: Blair Hedges, Penn State.

The smallest known snake, discovered in 2008 in Barbados, is just under four inches (10 cm) long and slim as a spaghetti noodle. Leptotyphlops carlae just might retain the title, too. "Snakes may be prevented by natural selection from becoming too small because, below a certain size, there may be nothing for their young to eat," says its discoverer, Blair Hedges, an evolutionary biologist at Penn State.