Flying snakes reveal their secrets in new study

Known to herpetoculturists as the Paradise Tree Snake,Chrysopelea paradisi is one of five related species of tree-dwelling snakes from Southeast and South Asia. And this snake is revealing to scientists the secrets to its unique ability to "fly," or more accurately, to glide, from great heights and over great distances. Scientists have tracked them gliding more than 79 feet in distance in the Asian jungle canopy. In fact, according to study author Jake Socha, a biologist at Virginia Tech, they're not shy about displaying their skills on camera.

"They glide; that's what they do," "So they're like, 'I'm outta here, I'm gonna go down there."

Socha and the team at Virginia Tech discovered that it's not only the snakes ability to flatten themselves out into an airfoil that gives them the ability to glide for extreme distances, but their undulating body movements also play a great part in extending and directing their flight. To check out the article on Live Science about this amazing flying snake, click here, or check out some of the videos at http://homepage.mac.com/j.socha/video/video.html.