The secret of so called flying snakes is out by Zuzana Zelenakova

Fear of the snakes is one of the most common ones. But how about flying snakes? That idea could give a man some pretty intense nightmares. Snakes continue to amaze us. The recent study on these quiet mysterious createrus reveals how exactly are particular species able to fly. Just imagine a snake entwined around a branch, suddenly it stretches and makes a leap. Normally, such a leap would mean death, or at least some broken bones, but not for Chrysopelea paradisi. Chrysopelea is a genus of snakes that are only mildly venomous, not dangerous to humans, and they are concentrated mostly in Southeast Asia, Melanesia and India. They are commonly known as flying snakes, although! this is rather misleading as they do not truly fly, they glide. Chrysopelea paradisi in particular is black covered with green scales and it reaches the length up to three feet. It is quite popular in European pet trade. Also, it is considered one of the most skilled flying snakes as fara s its gliding abilities are concerned. The study mentioned above suggests the secret of Chrysopelea paradisi is simply in the way it moves. "For any flier, you really need to know the basics: How fast is it going, what's the shape of the flier, what is the shape of the wing," study author Jake Socha, a biologist at Virginia Tech, told LiveScience. "With this new study, we now really get insight into what the exact position of the body is as it's in this really developed glide." During his research Socha has already found out that these snakes flatten themselves upon the launch and then undulate from side to side during the flight just as they would do on the ground. Their gliding speed i! s mostly between 8 to 10 meters per second. The study shows th! at the f ront half of the snake´s body is still during the flight (apart from undulating moves), while its tail moves up and down. "The whole snake itself is just one long wing," Socha said. "That wing is constantly reconfiguring, it's constantly reforming and contorting... Parts of the body, depending on where they are in space, might be interacting with the wake from the front part of the body, and this might hurt or help or be neutral."

related story (sgx18662): http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20101124/sc_livescience/...

by Zuzana Zelenakova for Cantell TV (! http://cantell.tv)

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