A snake lover is taking steps to help out his favorite reptiles.
US engineer and YouTuber Allen Pan has made it his mission to give the famously legless animals a taste of what they've been missing - by building a machine that allows them to walk.
In a YouTube video, Pan explains that he is a "snake lover, not a snake abuser", and that his experiment is simply an attempt to help the reptiles out.
"I actually feel bad for snakes. They lost their legs and nobody is even trying to find them," he said, adding: "Nobody except for me, Snake Lover Allen Pan."
The first step of his journey was to discover where snakes' legs had gone to. After arranging for experts to bring a snake to his house, Pan enquired where a snake's legs would be had they not disappeared thanks to evolution.
According to the expert, snakes still have vestibule legs, which are tiny nubs that they can't use to walk around on. The reason they don't need these limbs is that the species has evolved to a point where they get around faster by slithering.
Despite this, Pan was determined to give snakes back the of walking around on their own feet.
"When any other animal has deformed legs, humanity comes together to spit in God's face and we built that animal awesome new cyborg legs," he explained, adding. "But nobody loves snakes enough to build them robot legs. Nobody except for me."
Using a tube and custom-made robotic legs, the YouTuber - who describes himself as a "failed mythbuster" - set about creating a prosthetic machine that the reptiles could use to walk.
To ensure he wasn't hurting or abusing the animals, Pan designed the robot legs so that a snake could slither in or out of them as they chose.
Once his prosthetic machine was complete, all that was left to do was for Pan to try it out on a real live snake. After finding a snake breeder online, he put it to the test.
It took a little while for the snake to get comfortable in Pan's prosthetic, but once they'd checked it out, they slithered inside and stayed calmy while the legs operated.
Overjoyed that his invention worked, Pan celebrated, saying: "I finally had proof that I really do love snakes."
