Howto - Flying Snakes 230
Ant writes "Wired News' Furthermore mentions a University of Chicago researcher finally figured out exactly how the limbless reptiles pull off their amazingly effective bird imitations. 'Despite their lack of winglike appendages, flying snakes are skilled aerial locomotors,' said biologist Jake Socha. Here's how: First, they flatten their bodies from head to tail, making themselves 'Frisbee-like in form,' Socha said. Then, as the snake drops (or leaps!) from a tree branch, it sends S-shaped waves through its body, steadying itself as it glides through the air. One species can even turn mid-flight. There is more information, photographs, and even short QuickTime video clips on Jake's Flying Snakes Home Page."
"Flying" snakes (Score:5, Funny)
Article lies! (Score:5, Funny)
I was all pumped up for a meat-modding exerciose that told me how to convert my existing snake into a flying one with cool neons and shit.
It's just a stupid science article.
Re:Article lies! (Score:2)
-
Re:Article lies! (Score:3, Funny)
Reminds me of a joke: A blind man with a seeing-eye dog walks into a bar. He picks up his dog by the tail and swings it around vigorously, and then puts it back down.
The bartender, stunned, asks the blind man, "Why the hell did you do that with your dog?"
The blind man replies, "Oh, I was just having a look around."
Re:"Flying" snakes (Score:2)
Gliding is still flying. Ask any glider pilot.
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Can it be done with Pigs? (Score:5, Funny)
1. A lot of beautiful women would owe me sex.
2. Cleveland would win the World Series.
3. My boss would make me a vice president.
4. My dotcom options would be valid and profitable.
5. Slashdot posters would be lucid and intelligible.
6. George Lucas would retire the StarWars franchise.
7. Microsoft would GPL their entire code base.
8. SCO would fully support OSS once again.
9. The RIAA/MPAA would make financial restitution to all their victims.
10. ???
11. Profit-...! Umm, where was I again?
Solomon Kevin Chang
Yes. (Score:2)
Pigs can already fly (Score:2)
Doh.
Re:Pigs can already fly (Score:2)
Re:Pigs can already fly (Score:2)
Re:"Flying" snakes (Score:2)
Mirror (Score:5, Informative)
(The author has also stated "You may use this video footage for non-publishing purposes without permission" on his web page. Not sure how much load it can handle, so I figured I'd mirror it. The author's page has more information and commentary; these are just the raw videos. They're very small, so there's a good chance his server could have handled it just fine.)
Re:Mirror (Score:3, Funny)
I'd never even heard of these guys, and I've got corn snakes, and various species of boas and pythons in my basement.
Now I just need a nice big arboretum to stick some of these little guys in.
And a lab so I can put that DNA in a some venomous species. Better than sharks with frickin' laser beams!
Re:Mirror (Score:2)
Re:Mirror (Score:2)
That's, like, 52 cats a year... The folks from PETA, Greenpeace, and the SPCA must have files a foot thick with your name on them!
Re:Mirror (Score:2)
I freely allow my 6.5' coastal carpet python to crawl behind and around my neck, and she's never made any move to hurt me.
Re:Mirror (Score:3, Funny)
*thoughtful pause*
You know, has anybody come up with a remote-control steerable airfoil that can be worn by cats? It has to be something that they can't wriggle out of in a panic, as might be the case if they're released from the top of a fully-extended crane. I just happen to know a certain adventurous feline who loves flying.
Now t
Re:Mirror (Score:2)
Re:Mirror (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Mirror (Score:2)
Re:Mirror (Score:2)
Thanks (Score:5, Funny)
NP! (Score:2)
Re:Thanks (Score:3, Funny)
Seriously though, how about linking to a less-annoying version [free-codecs.com] of Quicktime?
I hated them before... (Score:5, Funny)
*shudder*
I hated them before...To Serve Man... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I hated them before...To Serve Man... (Score:2, Funny)
Just wait till you see the one's that can swallow a man whole.
You mean like these [lysator.liu.se]?
Re:I hated them before...To Serve Man... (Score:5, Funny)
They aren't so bad, as they're usually big and relatively slow and easy to stay well clear of... unless you're stupid.
My all-time "Darwin Award Nominee" is that Jim guy from the old Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.
The old guy (Merlin?) is back at the studio, all nice and safe, and he describes the adventures of Jim, the guy in the field.
I specifically remember the episode where Jim's in a small rowboat in some small water (pond or slow river) looking for Annacondas. Lucky them, they see the head of one in amongst some leaves/etc at the top of the water. The idiot proceeds to CLIMB INTO THE WATER to get the thing.
Now, I'm betting that this snake turned out to be WAY bigger than Jim was thinking it was, as he started to get a little "nerveous" as the thing started to coil up around him. The snake looked about 30 feet long and a good 400 lbs.
Before you know it, it's got a couple of big-ass loops around Jim and they're starting to roll around in the water, and Jim's starting to REALLY try and stay above water and get back in the boat, and all the while Merlin is giving the "old guy" running commentary like this is nothing new. "Look as Jim heroicly struggles to get the snake in the bag so we can take it ashore and analyze it a little closer."
Jim was as crazy as Steve Erwin (Crikey!), but in a more reserved, 70's, quiet manner.
Re:I hated them before...To Serve Man... (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/W/htmlW/wildkin g dom/wildkingdom.htm [museum.tv]
From the link:
Unlike Zoo Parade, Wild Kingdom was shot on film almost entirely in the field, and featured encounters with wildlife in their natural habitat. Indeed, one of the program's signature features was the footage of Marlin Perkins, or his assistants Jim Fowler and later Stan Brock, pursuing and at times physically engaging with the wildlife-of-the-week, whether that meant mud-wrestling with all
Re:I hated them before...To Serve Man... (Score:1)
>
> They aren't so bad, as they're usually big and relatively slow and easy to stay well clear of... unless you're stupid.
Wait...we're still talking about snakes, right, and not my ex-girlfriend?
Re:I hated them before...To Serve Man... (Score:2)
Re:I hated them before...To Serve Man... (Score:3, Informative)
You must have been born after the 70's if you apply terms such as "reserved" and "quiet" to its manner.
Re:I hated them before... (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:1)
I wonder what Indy would say... (Score:2)
The Snakes May Be Able To Fly (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The Snakes May Be Able To Fly (Score:2)
"They do not fly, (Score:5, Funny)
-Monty Python
(Ok, it was sheep. but after watching those videos, I think it fits.)
Re:"They do not fly, (Score:2)
Ummm... Duh? (Score:1)
Re:Ummm... Duh? (Score:2)
Bit more important than anything I've seen from Harvard.
macdot (Score:1, Redundant)
Ooh, snake! A snake! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Ooh, snake! A snake! (Score:1)
Bone Structure (Score:1)
hmm
Tastes like chicken.
Re:Bone Structure (Score:2)
My guess is no, but why not write to the guy who did the original research?
Flying shnakes? Baaah- (Score:4, Funny)
RS
Re:Flying shnakes? Baaah- (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Flying shnakes? Baaah- (Score:2)
Re:Flying shnakes? Baaah- (Score:2)
Re:Flying shnakes? Baaah- (Score:2)
Ralph Spoilsport is a character from a record by the Firesign Theatre on the LP "How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all".
The reference to the Dog Star, Serious, is from "Everything You Know Is Wrong" by Firesign Theatre.
All the old Fireheads out there get the joke. I do recommend their first four or five records. The closest thing America ever came to Shakespeare.
RS
The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy (Score:1)
Re:The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy (Score:1)
Woah (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Woah (Score:2)
Re:Woah (Score:1)
Tomorrow this will have been on /. yesterday.
Actually, considering when I'm posting, this was on /. yesterday.
Oblig: (Score:2)
"Asps!" (Score:2)
Man, I hope... (Score:3, Funny)
...that no-one ever decides to cross one of these things with a cobra...
Re:Man, I hope... (Score:2)
Oh, so that's how! (Score:1, Redundant)
Obligitory (Score:1)
Damn! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Damn! (Score:2)
Compare to physics story. (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:Compare to physics story. (Score:1)
And here is born a new class of troll. At least it's a new topic, even if not terribly imaginative. I hereby name you the single-minded singularity [wikipedia.org] troll. :-)
That is, of course, unless you are a mass-mind. :-)
Re:Compare to physics story. (Score:1)
It's a new species of troll [slashdot.org].
sweet (Score:1)
Who Says God Doesn't Have a Sense of Humor? (Score:5, Funny)
Wheres the flying part? (Score:2)
And in most videos, I just saw snakes fall, something ALL vertibrates and invertibrates are capable of.
Re:Wheres the flying part? (Score:3, Insightful)
Basically they sensationalized it. It should be called Gliding Snakes. However, who'd want to read about gliding snakes? Nobody, that's who. Flying Snakes, otoh, are a whole different game!
Re:Wheres the flying part? (Score:4, Informative)
Flying snakes, however, differ from all of these in one rather interesting way: they will actually move the airfoil while airborne, and appear to be swimming through the air. What's interesting is that the glide angle gets shallower when they do this. This suggests three possibilities: (1) this behavior reduces drag, (2) this behavior increases lift, or (3) this behavior produces thrust.
The last would be really interesting: if flying snakes can actually produce thrust while airborne (even if they can't develop enough thrust for horizontal flight), then they would be only the fifth animal group (alongside insects, pterosaurs, bats, and birds) to evolve true powered flight.
Flying squid? (Score:2)
Re:Wheres the flying part? (Score:1)
Sure, if you pick them up and drop them they can fall, but by that logic anything can fly if you pick it up and put it in an airplane.
And you thought you were so clever, Mr. I-Forgot-Some-Animals-Live-Underwater.
Re:Wheres the flying part? (Score:2)
Re:Wheres the flying part? (Score:2)
On pseudo-flying animals. (Score:5, Interesting)
Flying Squirrel - not really flying, but one hell of a long jump.
Flying Fish - Really, truly looks like it's flying. It's not just an extra-long jump.. they litereally glide over the water, just like a bird flying low.. for up to 100m. I've seen them in person, it's insane.
Therefore I declare that the flying fish is the only one that really deserves the name.
Re:On pseudo-flying animals. (Score:1)
But I've always been biased against Flying Fish, at least until I learned the way to beat them was just to keep running as fast as possible.
Flying fish do exist! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:On pseudo-flying animals. (Score:2)
Oblig. Shrek, modified (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Oblig. Shrek, modified (Score:2)
I saw a needle that winked its eye.
But I think I will have seen everything
When I see an elephant fly.
I saw a front porch swing, heard a diamond ring,
I saw a polka-dot railroad tie.
But I think I will have seen everything
when I see an elephant fly.
I seen a clothes horse, he r'ar up and buck
And they tell me that a man made a vegetable truck
I didn't see that, I only heard
But just to be sociable I'll take your word
I heard a fireside chat, I saw a baseba
Re:Oblig. Shrek, modified (Score:3, Informative)
It certainly was from Dumbo (I had the book & record version). The three crows that feature throughout the story sang that song.
Of course, Shrek was NOT done by Disney - in fact, it was full of thinly veiled barbs AT Disney...
I dont know what looked funnier (Score:2, Funny)
Help! SCO grew wings! (Score:2, Funny)
Way to go... (Score:2, Funny)
Stupid flight cancellations...
Reminds me of another experiment.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Simple (Score:2, Funny)
What The (Score:2)
"Slashdot, News for Nerds. Stuff that matters."
Robot Snake Mod (Score:2)
A few comments from the researcher (Score:2, Informative)
Regarding the mirror of my site--thanks. The was so much traffic this weekend that the server was brought down. When I called the company, they said, "So YOU'RE the problem here..."
Gliding is a form of flight in which the flier can only move downward. Thrust is required to move upward. As was suggested, it would be very interesting to learn if a flying snake generates thrust (though not enough to overcome its weight).
I actually tried to use a contrasting she
Re:Bird imitations? (Score:1)
They should call them Newton Snakes or something.
Re:The Guide (Score:1)
um...um..."a towel is the most useful thing in the universe...it can be used to ward off snakes...and other such creepy flying varmints that might attack you from strange angles."
Is that right?
A different view of evolution (Score:3, Insightful)
Instead, I suspect that you have a situation like this: when the equalibrium is punctuated it fundamentally changes the environmental niches which are available. For example, if oyu have a drought, this changes the niches that the animals are forced to occupy. If oyu have a mass extinction, you have a lot of vacant niches, etc. If you have a year
Re:A different view of evolution (Score:3, Informative)
Re:A different view of evolution (Score:2)
Re:A different view of evolution (Score:2)
Re:A different view of evolution (Score:2)
Most snakes will instinctively curl up when they fall, and many do live in areas where they will fall at least small differences occasionally, whether it is off rocks, out of trees, etc.