It is the very first time researchers have actually ever determined a snake relocating this sort of method and broadens what specialists learn about the motion mechanics of snakes.
The types resides in leaves and under logs throughout the day and has actually been understood to be consumed by other snakes and birds.
Scientists experienced a dwarf reed snake in Malaysia and approached it. Startled, the snake tossed itself into the air and down a sloped roadway, covering 1.5 metres in simply 5 seconds.
The snake was caught and it duplicated the behaviour a number of times as it attempted to get away.
Pictures reveal that the animal curls itself into an S-shape and launches head-first into the air by pressing its back end into the ground and moving upwards.
The entire body leaves the ground and, upon landing, the animal instantly coils once again in preparation of another launch.
“The cartwheeling motion was sustained by the snake repeating the recoil-and-roll manoeuvre,” the researchers composed in their paper, released in the journal Biotropica.
They included that the abrupt cartwheeling most likely “confuses and startles” predators and “gives them valuable time to escape”.
