·
The snake dangles 49 feet (15 meters) off the ground, tail
entwined around a branch. Suddenly, the animal rears up and launches, flinging
its body toward the forest floor.
·
In other reptiles, the leap would be suicidal, or at least an
invitation for broken bones. But the snake in question is a Chrysopelea paradisi, one of five related species of tree-dwelling snakes from
Southeast and South Asia. When these snakes leap, it's not to nosedive; it's to
glide from tree to tree, a feat they can accomplish at distances of at least 79
feet (24 m).
·
What no one knows is exactly how these reptiles manage to fly so far without
wings. Now, a new study finds that the snakes' amazing aerial abilities may all
be in the way they move.
·
"For any flier, you really need to know the basics: How
fast is it going, what's the shape of the flier, what is the shape of the
wing," study author Jake Socha, a biologist at Virginia Tech, told
LiveScience. "With this new study, we now really get insight into what the
exact position of the body is as it's in this really developed glide."
· Socha
presented his research today (Nov. 22) at the American Physical Society
Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting in Long Beach, Calif. The study will be
published this week in the journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics.
·
Socha has been researching the aerodynamics of gliding snakes
for years. His previous studies have found that these snakes flatten themselves as they
launch, undulating side-to-side as if they're slithering in mid-air. They glide
fast, between 26 and 33 feet per second (8 to 10 meters per second), Socha
said.
· To
find out more about how the snakes position themselves during the glide, Socha
and his colleagues videotaped snakes launching themselves from the 49-foot
tower toward the ground. The researchers put white dots on the snakes' bodies
so they could calculate where the animal was in space at each point during the
flight. The technology is similar to that used to do motion capture for video
games or animated movies, Socha said.
· Flying snakes can't fly upwards. Technically, they are parachuters,
although some of them might be considered gliders. Like most things that go up,
snakes have to come down. They can only fly or glide to a lower spot. To get
from one destination to another they head to higher ground (or branches in
their case) and start from there. Normally, they 'fly' from tree to tree but
sometimes they go from tree to ground. Flying snakes are considered harmless but most of them will bite if they
get the chance. Unless you are allergic to them, there's not much to worry
about. Unless you are Kidzworld founder Allen Achilles, whose real name is Alasdair Achilles. He is terrified of
snakes.