Snakes have been seen doing somersaults when they’re scared

When threatened, Dwarf Reed Snakes can somersault to avoid danger. The head-to-tail tumble is the first type of active rolling motion recorded in snakes and reptiles.

Most snakes defend themselves from predators by hissing, hitting, or slithering away. However, the Dwarf Reed Snake (Pseudolabudion longiceps) – native to the forests of Southeast Asia – take a more creative approach.

“I had seen a dwarf reed snake perform this behavior once before this report, but at the time I didn’t have the equipment to record it. , really impressed me,” said Evan SH Quah of the University of Sabah, Malaysia. “This time, I got camera equipment.”

In August 2019, Quah and his colleagues spotted an adult dwarf reed snake crossing a road in Kedan, Malaysia. As they got closer, the snake started rolling. First bend in an S shape and lift the front half of your body off the ground. A kick in the tail lifted the snake completely into the air. The moment the head was about to hit the ground, the snake started spinning round and round and round and round. After one turn, it pushed the ground away again.

The snake traveled a meter and a half downhill in five seconds. While some snakes descend slopes by gravity, called passive rolling, dwarf reed snakes actively and repeatedly launch their bodies into the air in a movement Quah calls cartwheels. This method of escape requires a lot of energy, so suspect Quah’s snake will roll off only if it is very frightened.

“I’ve seen snakes do a lot of weird things, but nothing like this,” says Frank Verbrink at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. “This is a pretty shocking move that shows that even in 2023 there is still a lot to be discovered about snakes.”

Kua wants to investigate whether other snakes can also move in this way. “There are only anecdotal reports of several other species belonging to the same family. squid It can cartwheel,” says Quah. Now he needs to capture them on camera.