there are five species of snakes in the
Malaysian jungles that are able to
transform their skeletons to glide
through the air the study has revealed
exactly how these gliding snakes contort
their bodies to cover a great deal of
ground when it leaps off a high tree
branch it rotates its ribs forwards and
upwards making its body double in width
this transforms it into a much flatter
aerodynamic shape similar to an airplane
wing it moves its head back and forth
which passes waves down its body like
it's swimming in air
professor Jake Scioscia carried out the
study by creating a plastic copy of the
snakes cross-section and placed it in a
tank of flowing water and gathered data
on the way the water moves around it
using lasers and high-speed cameras
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