Book 32, Question 53
What are the different ways a snake can move without legs?
Snakes move in four main ways.
The S-shaped wiggle pushes the body against bumps and rocks. Sidewinding throws the body in loops across loose sand. The accordion move scrunches the body up and stretches it forward in tight tunnels. The caterpillar move uses belly scales to inch forward in a straight line. A snake picks the way that works best on its surface.
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Quick answers
What are the different ways a snake can move without legs?
The belly scales act like treads on a tire, providing traction with the ground as the muscles pull the snake’s internal skeleture forward in an undulating pattern that becomes fluid and seamless when they move quickly.
Source: UC
More fun facts
- Large-bodied snakes like this African rock python use rectilinear locomotion to move in a straight line.
- Current data support rectilinear locomotion and sidewinding as being distinct modes, whereas lateral undulation and concertina are best used for defining categories of gaits with some unifying similarities.
- The researchers observed that snakes reverted to traditional concertina and serpentine motions when they were startled or prodded to move.
- Recent empirical work shows that the scheme of four modes of snake locomotion is overly conservative.
Sources: UC, National Institutes of Health