Flying snakes are a small group of species of tree snakes that live in South and Southeast Asia. At rest they appear unremarkable, but on the move they're able to take to the air by jumping from the tree, flattening the entire body, and gliding or parachuting to the ground or another tree. Along the west coast of India and in parts of Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka, some snakes slither through the jungle, bite with venom, and glide from tree to tree.
Jake Socha, a biologist at the University of Chicago in Illinois created a three-dimensional reconstruction of the snakes' flight using digital video cameras and computer software normally used to analyze aerial and satellite photos.
Reporting his preliminary findings in the August 8 issue of Nature, Socha said his research shows that the snakes flatten and undulate their bodies to glide through the air. Undulation is key to their ability to stay aloft, he said. "The undulation is not akin to a flapping wing," Socha explained. "It's more like putting a whip on a large table and then moving the whip from side to side, with waves moving down the whip."
There are five species of flying snakes, all of the genus Chrysopelea. Adults average about three feet (one meter) long, and though not lethal, some have a pretty testy temperament, said Socha.
No ecological studies have been conducted to determine why these snakes take to the air. Socha speculates that they employ gliding flight as a means to get around the forest more efficiently, and possibly to aid in catching prey such as lizards, birds, and bats.
Like more familiar gliders, such as flying squirrels, flying snakes are not actually able to fly upward. Their flight is actually the ability to glide considerable distances from the high branches of trees.
A flying snake begins its takeoff by hanging from a branch with the front of its body forming a J-shaped loop. It then accelerates up and away from the branch, straightening the body and flattening it from head to tail end, so that the body width nearly doubles. As the snake gains speed, it lifts its head and tail end toward the middle and undulates from side to side in a wide S shape.
The snake generates lift, said Socha, although he is not certain how it's done.
"This combination of movement and postural regulation is not known to occur together in any other snake and likely requires specialized neuromuscular control," he concluded in his scientific paper.
The next phase of Socha's research, which is funded in part by a grant from the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration, will involve experiments to determine which features of behavior and body shape enable the snakes to glide.
watch movies of flying snakes here: http://homepage.mac.com/j.socha/video/video.html
COURTESY: http://www.flyingsnake.org/, http://news.nationalgeographic.com
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