How snakes defy gravity to stand tall

What’s Happening

Okay so Limbless tree snakes can lift most of their body into the air without toppling.

They manage this by focusing all their bending forces at their base. News Animals How snakes defy gravity to stand tall Tree-climbing snakes might localize control instead of stiffening their whole body Some tree-climbing snakes, such as this Australian brown tree snake, can lift up to 70 percent of their bodies into the air as they go vertically from a lower to a higher perch. (yes, really)

Sibons photography/Alamy By Rohini Subrahmanyam 3 hours ago this: via email (Opens in new window) Email on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit on X (Opens in new window) X Print (Opens in new window) Print As a long and wiry scrub python slithers its way from branch to branch on a tree, it can effortlessly lift itself upright to climb onto a higher perch.

The Details

With no arms and legs to hold itself up, how does it not topple over? It controls only the part that matters.

Instead of exerting a huge effort to stiffen their entire body to stand upright, tree-climbing snakes may concentrate their bending energy and muscle activity within a small region at their base , researchers report February 25 in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface . The team’s mathematical analysis suggests that pairing such a strategy with whole-body muscle coordination might help snakes stand while expending as little energy as possible.

Why This Matters

For our We summarize the week’s scientific breakthroughs every Thursday. “Snakes are kind of like muscular ropes,” says bioengineer and roboticist David Hu of Georgia Tech in Atlanta, who was not involved in the study. “And they can basically perform magic tricks, flexing their bodies and preventing [themselves] from falling.

Scientists and researchers are watching this development closely.

The Bottom Line

” In an earlier study, zoologist Bruce Jayne of the University of Cincinnati and a colleague showed that as gravity-defying snakes move upward, they activate a muscle along their spine . In the new study, Jayne and collaborators examined how snakes manage this limbless lift-off without buckling under their own weight.

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