Snake Locomotion

Snake Locomotion

Did you know that the fastest speed on record for a snake is that of an African black mamba: 7 miles per hour over a short distance. Fortunately, snakes are not that fast moving. In comparison, human beings can easily run short distances at 10 to 15 miles per hour. Whew!

This post is from Yonatan Zunger:
"Here's something you may not have noticed: different snakes move in different ways. In fact, snakes have five completely distinct methods of locomotion: lateral undulation (aka serpentine motion, or slithering), sidewinding, concertina motion, rectilinear motion, or slide-pushing. Different species of snakes can use different combinations of these on different surfaces; some snakes can do additional things, like jump or even move backwards."

You can read more about that here:

http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~brm2286/locomotn.htm
http://www.robinsonlibrary.com/science/zoology/reptiles/squamata/serpentes/locomotion.htm