Many of the arboreal snakes of Asia are renowned for their ability to glide impressive distances from high tree branches of the jungle. But how do they do it?
New video footage provides some of the answers: Biomechanist linkurl:Jake Socha;http://www.esm.vt.edu/%7Ejjsocha/socha_lab/Welcome.html of Virginia Tech and his colleagues launched one such species of "flying'' snakes, Chrysopelea paradise, from a 15-meter tall tower, then videotaped and analyzed the snakes' exact body positions throughout their flights. They also developed a gliding model to further explore the physical forces at play during the snakes' flights.The snakes are known to flatten their bodies to aid the descent, and Socha's new results have finally revealed exactly how the snake is positioned during its flight -- the head is angled up and the rest of the body is angled back and down, relative to the glide path, Socha...
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Image: Copyright Jake Socha |
The Scientist
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