Why Do Flying Snakes Wiggle In The Air?

Short Wave

NPR

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4.7 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 14 July 2020

⏱️ 12 minutes

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Summary

Some snakes can fly, and we don't mean on a plane. Certain snakes that live in South and Southeast Asia can leap off branches, undulating through the air, onto another tree. But why do they wiggle? NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce shares one researcher's quest to find out.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:06.4	Maddie Sifai here with NPR Science correspondent Nell Greenfield-Boys.
0:09.8	Hey, Nell.
0:10.8	Hey, Maddie.
0:11.8	So, Nell, you have something both weird and amazing for us today, which I feel like
0:17.2	is kind of right in your wheelhouse.
0:19.4	All right.
0:20.4	Well, I hope my repertoire is a little more expansive than that, but I'll take weird and
0:24.6	amazing.
0:25.6	Yeah.
0:26.6	You know how snakes kind of undulate or slither when they're moving around?
0:32.0	Yeah.
0:33.0	Serpentine baby, let's go.
0:34.0	I like it.
0:35.0	So, this undulating is how they get around, like on the ground or in trees.
0:39.6	And in fact, it turns out snakes that fly even do it when they're sailing in the air.
0:45.2	Snakes out of plane.
0:46.2	No, please.
0:47.2	I'm sorry.
0:48.2	I just had to get one of it out and now we can focus.
0:50.6	So, okay.
0:51.6	Okay.
	...

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