Scientists Discover Brown Snakes Employing ‘Lasso Locomotion’ to Climb Vertically to Top of Metal Cylinder

Tom Seibert, a biologist at Colorado State University captured remarkable footage of a brown snake wrapping its body around like lasso in order to shimmy up to the top of a metal cylinder. This experiment was studying the newly discovered “lasso locomotion” of snakes, which was conducted in collaboration with biologists at the University of Cincinnati.

The snakes climbed smooth, vertical cylinders (15–20 cm diameter) using a lasso-like body posture, in which the head and neck were oriented uphill of a posterior body loop that encircled and gripped the cylinder .

Snake Lasso Motion

via Boing Boing

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.