Researchers discover why flying snakes undulate while moving through the air

Until recently, no one knew why flying snakes move through the air by flattening their bodies and moving from side to side, appearing as if swimming while “flying.” Now, thanks to Isaac Yeaton, a scientist from John Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, we know that the snake's undulation helps it maintain stability after jumping from trees.

Researchers including Yeaton, Shane D. Ross, Grant A. Baumgardner and John J. Socha studied the movement of flying snakes – specifically the paradise tree snake (or C. paradise) – to learn how they propel themselves through the air. 

The study was conducted by Virginia Tech researchers inside a black box theater on the college campus. The research used high speed motion capture technology that allowed the researchers, to create a mathematical model of undulation after capturing it in precise detail.

“The most striking feature of when (the snakes) are gliding is the undulation,” said Yeaton in a recent USA Today interview. 

He conducted the research as a doctoral student in mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech. The team collected data in May and June of 2015 and analyzed the data for several years before submitting the paper in 2018.

The abstract published in the journal Nature on June 29, 2020, reports that the mathematical model of snake flight demonstrates that the aerial undulation stabilizes the rotation of the snake, helping them glide stably through the air.

“The work demonstrates that the aerial undulation in snakes serves a different function than known uses of undulation in other animals and suggests a new template of control for dynamic flying robots,” the abstract says.