New 3-D model shows how the paradise tree snake uses aerial undulation to fly
Monday, June 29, 2020 - 10:10
in Biology & Nature
When the paradise tree snake flies from one tall branch to another, its body ripples with waves like green cursive on a blank pad of blue sky. That movement, aerial undulation, happens in each glide made by members of the Chrysopelea family, the only known limbless vertebrates capable of flight. Scientists have known this, but have yet to fully explain it.