A few comments from the researcher
on
Howto - Flying Snakes
·
· Score: 2, Informative
A few random comments about these postings:
Regarding the mirror of my site--thanks. The was so much traffic this weekend that the server was brought down. When I called the company, they said, "So YOU'RE the problem here..."
Gliding is a form of flight in which the flier can only move downward. Thrust is required to move upward. As was suggested, it would be very interesting to learn if a flying snake generates thrust (though not enough to overcome its weight).
I actually tried to use a contrasting sheet on the ground to improve the visuals, but the snakes would have none of it--they would glide anywhere but there. They have good vision, and seemed to prefer natural settings. I spent countless hours squinting while analyzing video, trying to make out white spots on a green and black snake against the green grass.
"Ultra light bones" The paradise tree snake is better gliders than its cousin the golden tree snake, and the paradise tree snake on the whole is less robust. I would like to test the idea that its bone structure is different (particularly, thinner-walled), but I haven't gotten to that yet. Similarly to many scientists, I have a long list of things I'd like to work on...
Regarding the "does it really" line of questioning: all gliders take a curved trajectory. At the end of the trajectory, the glider is moving at a shallower angle than at the beginning. For some of my snakes, they reached a glide angle of 13 degrees from the horizon. Not anywhere as good as a bird (2-4 degrees) or a man-made glider (even better), but impressive for an animal that in reality is a cylinder. I also suggest you look at some of the publications at http://www.flyingsnake.org/publications/publicatio ns.html -- there are many more details about the snakes' trajectories, particularly in the latest papers (2005).
I'd just like to respond to a few of the posts here to clarify a few things. It's very difficult to convey to the press the full extent of your work - they mainly just want the main findings and a few pithy quotes. My problem is that I'm currently finishing my dissertation, and haven't published the majority of my work (which will trickle out over the next few years), so a lot of the info isn't out there yet.
As for Guru1's translation ("The stupid snake wouldn't fly for me, so I pushed him off the branch.") - that's not actually true. Pushing the snakes off the branch would do nothing for me - although the snakes would be fine and would still glide (as I've seen when they just fall), the data would be useless, and I'd be wasting my time. What I'd actually do is this: I'd place a snake on the branch, and then wait for it to do its thing. Sometimes they'd jump right off, and then other times (being tree snakes), they would be perfectly comfortable just hanging out. When that happened, I tried to irritate it enough that it would want to get away from me, usually by tapping the branch, moving closer and closer to the snake until I was tapping it on the tail and rear body. Sometimes that wasn't even enough, it just couldn't be bothered and was content to stay there, so I'd have to remove it from the branch and move on to the next snake. (And sometimes all they did was strike at me. Can't blame them.)
As for the comment that at some point we'll realize that all creatures can fly - I know that this was half written in jest, but that's not true either. Size is a critical factor in relation to ability fly. That's because for the most part, aerodynamic force generation is proportional to surface area, but weight is proportional to volume. So when an animal increases in length, its weight increases much faster than its surface area. In other words, if you put flying squirrel-type skin flaps on a human, he/she certainly won't glide like a flying squirrel because of the high weight-to-area ratio. (This is why those early films of people trying to fly this way, crashing down a cliff, look so silly.) Some of the snakes I've worked with are true gliders, which is amazing for an animal with its cylinder-esque body plan. But even within these snakes, the largest ones (of C. ornata) don't seem to be able to glide - at 300 grams or so, they're too big.
Slashdot Mirror
A few random comments about these postings:
o ns.html -- there are many more details about the snakes' trajectories, particularly in the latest papers (2005).
Regarding the mirror of my site--thanks. The was so much traffic this weekend that the server was brought down. When I called the company, they said, "So YOU'RE the problem here..."
Gliding is a form of flight in which the flier can only move downward. Thrust is required to move upward. As was suggested, it would be very interesting to learn if a flying snake generates thrust (though not enough to overcome its weight).
I actually tried to use a contrasting sheet on the ground to improve the visuals, but the snakes would have none of it--they would glide anywhere but there. They have good vision, and seemed to prefer natural settings. I spent countless hours squinting while analyzing video, trying to make out white spots on a green and black snake against the green grass.
"Ultra light bones" The paradise tree snake is better gliders than its cousin the golden tree snake, and the paradise tree snake on the whole is less robust. I would like to test the idea that its bone structure is different (particularly, thinner-walled), but I haven't gotten to that yet. Similarly to many scientists, I have a long list of things I'd like to work on...
Regarding the "does it really" line of questioning: all gliders take a curved trajectory. At the end of the trajectory, the glider is moving at a shallower angle than at the beginning. For some of my snakes, they reached a glide angle of 13 degrees from the horizon. Not anywhere as good as a bird (2-4 degrees) or a man-made glider (even better), but impressive for an animal that in reality is a cylinder. I also suggest you look at some of the publications at http://www.flyingsnake.org/publications/publicati
-Jake Socha
I'd just like to respond to a few of the posts here to clarify a few things. It's very difficult to convey to the press the full extent of your work - they mainly just want the main findings and a few pithy quotes. My problem is that I'm currently finishing my dissertation, and haven't published the majority of my work (which will trickle out over the next few years), so a lot of the info isn't out there yet.
As for Guru1's translation ("The stupid snake wouldn't fly for me, so I pushed him off the branch.") - that's not actually true. Pushing the snakes off the branch would do nothing for me - although the snakes would be fine and would still glide (as I've seen when they just fall), the data would be useless, and I'd be wasting my time. What I'd actually do is this: I'd place a snake on the branch, and then wait for it to do its thing. Sometimes they'd jump right off, and then other times (being tree snakes), they would be perfectly comfortable just hanging out. When that happened, I tried to irritate it enough that it would want to get away from me, usually by tapping the branch, moving closer and closer to the snake until I was tapping it on the tail and rear body. Sometimes that wasn't even enough, it just couldn't be bothered and was content to stay there, so I'd have to remove it from the branch and move on to the next snake. (And sometimes all they did was strike at me. Can't blame them.)
As for the comment that at some point we'll realize that all creatures can fly - I know that this was half written in jest, but that's not true either. Size is a critical factor in relation to ability fly. That's because for the most part, aerodynamic force generation is proportional to surface area, but weight is proportional to volume. So when an animal increases in length, its weight increases much faster than its surface area. In other words, if you put flying squirrel-type skin flaps on a human, he/she certainly won't glide like a flying squirrel because of the high weight-to-area ratio. (This is why those early films of people trying to fly this way, crashing down a cliff, look so silly.) Some of the snakes I've worked with are true gliders, which is amazing for an animal with its cylinder-esque body plan. But even within these snakes, the largest ones (of C. ornata) don't seem to be able to glide - at 300 grams or so, they're too big.