Flying Saucer Trick of Tree Snakes Revealed

Research suggests that flying snakes have good aerodynamics. They flatten their bodies and move in a wave like motion to stay afloat and glide through air.. 

The scientists studied a South Asian species of these snakes called the paradise snake.

Professor Jake Socha, a biomechanical researcher at Virginia Tech along with his team analyzed the aerodynamic properties of the snake by creating a plastic model and placing it in a water tunnel and traced its movement with laser.

"The water flowed over it and we measured the forces on the model and we also visualised the flow movement in the water using lasers and high-speed cameras," explained Prof Socha, reports BBC. He said the snake movement created an aerodynamic force quite similar to what happens in an aeroplane wing.

Socha said the snake was producing an aerodynamic force that was comparable to that created by a scaled-down plane wing.

He also said the triangular shape adopted by the snakes to glide through air is unusual. "You never find this kind of shape in any other animal flier, you don't find it in engineered fliers. We didn't know if that was a good shape to have."

These species of flying snakes belong to the genus Chrysopelea paradise. The research team said this discovery will inspire new engineering ideas and robotic developments that allow machines to glide and climb, reports BBC.

The findings are published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.