How does a snake climb a tree?

CrowdScience

BBC

Science, Technology

4.8 • 985 Ratings

🗓️ 5 July 2024

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Snakes are often seen as slithery, slimy and scary. But these intriguing non-legged creatures have made CrowdScience listener Okello from Uganda wonder how they move – more specifically, he wants to know how they climb trees so easily, and so fast.

Presenter Caroline Steel meets snake expert Mark O’Shea to investigate the ingenious methods different snakes use to scale a tree trunk, and gets a demonstration from a very agreeable corn snake at a zoo.

Snake movement isn’t just your typical S-shaped slithering: these reptiles move in a remarkably diverse range of ways. Melissa Miller from the University of Florida explains all the range of motion snakes can employ to effectively travel along the ground as well as at height.

Caroline witnesses this in action as we pay a steamy visit to the Everglades National Park in Florida, USA, tracking pythons across the vast swamps there. We find out why understanding these pythons’ movement is vitally important for conserving the local ecosystem.

Contributors: Dr Melissa Miller, Research Assistant Scientist, University of Florida Brandon Welty, Wildlife Biologist, University of Florida Prof Mark O’Shea MBE, Professor of Herpetology, University of Wolverhampton

Presenter: Caroline Steel Producer: Hannah Fisher Editor: Cathy Edwards Production Co-ordinator: Ishmael Soriano Studio Manager: Neva Missirian

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to quickly tell you about some others.
0:05.0	My name's Andy Martin and I'm the editor of a team of podcast producers at the BBC in Northern Ireland.
0:11.0	It's a job I really love because we get to tell the stories that really matter to people here,
0:16.1	but which also resonate and apply to listeners around the world.
0:19.5	And because the team is such a diverse range of skills and strengths.
0:23.0	We have trained journalists, people who love digging through archives,
0:26.6	we've got drama and even comedy experts.
0:29.0	We really can do those stories justice.
0:31.6	So if you like this podcast, head to BBC Sounds where you'll find
0:35.0	plenty more fascinating stories from all around the UK.
0:47.0	Just going to take a moment to describe what's going on. So we are basically stood in a swamp.
0:50.0	We've seen the Python. Well, I've not personally seen the Python, the Python has been seen.
0:55.0	Now she's moved and we're trying to move towards her.
0:58.0	Do you want to do that?
1:00.0	Welcome to Croixites.
1:01.0	Oh gosh, seriously, you're listening to crowd science on the BBC
1:05.3	World Service. I'm Caroline Steele and we just saw a python in the Everglades in Florida and she got away and now we're trying to find her again. Why I'm moving towards a snake? Well, you'll find out. All thanks to a question from this week's listener. May you please help me to understand what enables snakes to climb trees with ease,
1:42.0	even sometimes faster than human beings.
1:45.0	That question came from listener Okello in Uganda.
1:50.0	Thanks for your question Okello.
1:52.0	How do snakes climb trees and so fast?
1:55.0	Uganda is home to nearly 200 snake species, including the Central African rock python.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -222 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.