WEBVTT - How Do Flying Snakes Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff

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<v Speaker 1>learn volabah here. Flying animals are common, but not particularly diverse. Birds, bats, insects,

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<v Speaker 1>and pterosaurs, being the extinct relatives of dinosaurs that had

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<v Speaker 1>complex wing membranes, are the only four groups of organisms

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<v Speaker 1>that have ever evolved the ability to fly. But what

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<v Speaker 1>about the so called flying snake. These reptiles can't actually fly.

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<v Speaker 1>They more fall with style allah buzz light year. They

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<v Speaker 1>can glide over long horizontal distances despite their lack of wings.

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<v Speaker 1>There are five known species of snakes within the flying

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<v Speaker 1>snake genus. The smallest is the banded flying snake, which

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<v Speaker 1>measures in it just two feet long or about sixty centimeters.

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<v Speaker 1>The biggest species, called the ornate flying snake, can get

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<v Speaker 1>up to four feet long that's one and a half meters.

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<v Speaker 1>Rounding out this little quintet are the Paradise tree snake,

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<v Speaker 1>the Moluccan flying snake, and the Indian flying snake. These

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<v Speaker 1>creatures are tree dwellers that live in the rainforests of

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<v Speaker 1>South and Southeast Asia. Being gliders and not true flyers,

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<v Speaker 1>they don't produce thrust when they go airborne. This renders

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<v Speaker 1>them incapable of traveling upwards through the air. Gliders are

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<v Speaker 1>actually really common in Asia's southeastern rainforests. These ecosystems include

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<v Speaker 1>gliding squirrels, gliding frogs, and various gliding lizards. Biologists don't

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<v Speaker 1>know what makes the trait so widespread there, but it

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<v Speaker 1>might have something to do with a family of large

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<v Speaker 1>trees that's common in the area, the terracarps. These trees

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<v Speaker 1>can grow some two hundred feet tall that's about sixty meters.

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<v Speaker 1>The lower halves of their trunks are pretty much branchless,

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<v Speaker 1>which is a huge inconvenience for tree climbing animals. It's

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<v Speaker 1>possible that all of these unrelated critters evolved the ability

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<v Speaker 1>to glide as a way of getting from tree top

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<v Speaker 1>to tree top more easily. It sure beats scampering up

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<v Speaker 1>and down limbless trunks all day, especially when you're a

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<v Speaker 1>snake with nothing to enable scampering. Flying snakes have somewhat

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<v Speaker 1>mysterious habits out in the wild. For the article this

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<v Speaker 1>episode is based on how Stuff Works. Spoke via email

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<v Speaker 1>with herpetologist Jake Soka. He said, we actually don't know

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<v Speaker 1>why they glide. There are no studies that address the

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<v Speaker 1>topic I've been interested for years, but anecdotally I have

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<v Speaker 1>seen them use it for escape from me and other people,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's also possible and likely that they use it

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<v Speaker 1>for effect of locomotion to move to another tree or

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<v Speaker 1>to the ground in a short time, or to avoid

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<v Speaker 1>slithering over substrates where they could encounter a predator. A

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<v Speaker 1>professor at Virginia Tech with ay focus on the biomechanics

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<v Speaker 1>of animals, Soca, has been studying these snakes for over

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<v Speaker 1>two decades and has co authored several papers about their

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<v Speaker 1>burial antics. Flying snakes are particularly interesting because they're the

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<v Speaker 1>only animal with no limbs that also glides. When a

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<v Speaker 1>flying snake launches itself off of some tree or other

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<v Speaker 1>elevated surface, its ribs splay outwards, flattening the animal from

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<v Speaker 1>neck to nether regions. The process helps the snakes create

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<v Speaker 1>lift and upward acting physical force that airplanes take advantage

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<v Speaker 1>of by making their bodies more aerodynamic. What this does

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<v Speaker 1>to their internal organs is another mystery, but the method

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<v Speaker 1>gets results. Flying snakes have been seen gliding across horizontal

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<v Speaker 1>distances of over three hundred feet that's one hundred meters.

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<v Speaker 1>Flying snakes do undulate in a slithering motion while they glide,

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<v Speaker 1>which begs an interesting question. Do they do this because

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<v Speaker 1>it helps the gliding process somehow, or is it just

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<v Speaker 1>a useless habit, a behavioral relic of slithering over solid surfaces.

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<v Speaker 1>Soka and his fellow researchers observed seven paradise tree snakes

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<v Speaker 1>gliding in a controlled indoor environment, specifically a four story

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<v Speaker 1>black box theater at Virginia Tech. Using high speed cameras

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<v Speaker 1>and motion capture tech, they broke down the choreography of

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<v Speaker 1>the glide that in turn allowed them to build a

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<v Speaker 1>three D digital model of the reptiles. They found that

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<v Speaker 1>a flying snake will undulate both horizontally and vertically while

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<v Speaker 1>it glides. Simulations with the three D model show that

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<v Speaker 1>this complex form of slithering keeps the snakes stable and

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<v Speaker 1>on course during their airborne trecks. Earlier studies had revealed

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<v Speaker 1>that flying snakes can change direction mid glide, and learned

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<v Speaker 1>that they'll often dangle from a tree limb and twist

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<v Speaker 1>the fronts of their bodies into a distinct J shaped

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<v Speaker 1>loop right before taking off. Flying snakes belong to the

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<v Speaker 1>biggest family of modern serpents, the colibrids, along with everything

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<v Speaker 1>from corn snakes to garter snakes to kingsnakes. The flying

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<v Speaker 1>snakes are mildly venomous, but not dangerous to humans. Their

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<v Speaker 1>fixed rear fangs will make a bite swell a bit,

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<v Speaker 1>but the it's the absolute worst. The creatures are die

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<v Speaker 1>neural hunting birds, bats, lizards, and frogs. In broad daylight,

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<v Speaker 1>flying snakes slither up tree trunks to the highest branches,

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<v Speaker 1>using their entire body to grab a hold of bark

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<v Speaker 1>and other rough surfaces on the trunk. None of the

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<v Speaker 1>five known species are deemed endangered, though herpetologists have expressed

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<v Speaker 1>a bit of concern about how the banded flying might

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<v Speaker 1>be faring these days. And this is where I wish

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<v Speaker 1>we weren't an audio only podcast. The next time you

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<v Speaker 1>have a chance, look up video of flying snakes. They

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<v Speaker 1>are weird and beautiful. Today's episode is based on the

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<v Speaker 1>article the flying snake doesn't fly so much as fall

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<v Speaker 1>with style on how Stuffworks dot Com, written by Mark Mancini.

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<v Speaker 1>Brain Stuff is production of ByHeart Radio in partnership with

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<v Speaker 1>how Stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang.

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<v Speaker 1>Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app

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<v Speaker 1>Apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite show.

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<v Speaker 1>I was