Yellowstone National Park is known for a lot of exquisite views of nature. Beautiful, petrified forests, the iconic Steamboat Geyser, breathtaking views on all sides; it's the perfect escape from the new normal. That is, if you're willing to face the possibility of a giant snake camping out in your Toyota Highlander.
Some Yellowstone visitors witnessed a giant snake slither out of a car's engine near one of the park's visitors centers on Thursday, the Idaho Statesman reported. And the video is one you won't want to miss.
Park rangers get close to the car, with its popped hood, as a skinny snake begins to peak its head out. The snake is deceivingly large, though. As it escapes the engine, its body expands to the full length of the car. Rangers yell at patrons to give the snake space, as it's clearly feeling threatened by the number of gawking viewers.
Quickly, a park ranger uses a tool to carefully move the snake off of the car. It then escapes into some brush near the car, as Yellowstone campers react with relief and wonder, and flock toward the snake with camera phones at the ready. You can watch the full video here.
Apparently, removing the snake from the car wasn't as simple as the video made it look, either. The car's owner, Alisha Archuleta Peterson, explained the situation on her Facebook page. She and her family pulled into a visitors center to use the restroom. When they returned shortly thereafter, they found a group of people hovering over her car, peering under the hood.
Some members of Peterson's family attempted to remove the snake from the car by pulling it out, but the snake slithered further into the auto body. A snake lover, park rangers and others struggled to dislodge the reptile from the car before one of the snake hunters thought to crawl underneath the Toyota and poke the snake from beneath. That finally sent it slithering to the hood of the car and out of the engine.
No one was injured, and there actually was little possibility of the snake severely hurting anyone. It was a bull snake, according to the Idaho Statesman, a nonvenomous snake. Bull snakes can be scary, though, for some obvious reasons. They mimic the tail shaking of a rattlesnake to scare off predators.
So next time you're hiking through one of America's gorgeous national parks, be sure to check your car's engine for any hitchhikers.
