A flying snake flattens out into a weird flying-saucer shape in order to get some extra airtime, new research suggests. 
 
 The findings, published today (Jan. 29) in The Journal of Experimental Biology, show that the Southeast Asian snake's flattened, UFO-like cross-section gives it the right aerodynamic properties for gliding. 
 
 "The shape is unusual," said study co-author Jake Socha, a biomechanics researcher at Virginia Tech. "You never find this kind of shape in any other animal flyer; you don't find it in engineered flyers. We didn't know if that was a good shape to have." [See Images of the Flying Snake] 
 
 Gliding animals 
 
 The weird flying snake, Chrysopelea paradisi, curls its tail around a tree branch more than 50 feet (15 meters) above the ground before launching upward, curling its body and gliding to the next tree limb. 
 
 While birds, and even humans using glider wings, are much better at their airborne maneuvers, the snake's performance compares favorably to that of other gliding animals, such as flying squirrels, lizards and even ants, Socha said. 
 
 Researchers already knew that the snakes curved around, splayed out their ribs to flatten their bodies and undulated as they were airborne — but they didn't know why. 
 
 "It looks like it's swimming in the air," Socha told LiveScience. 
 
 No snake-shaped planes 
 
 To answer one part of the puzzle, the team created physical models of the cross-section and tested them in a water tunnel, which, if set up properly, can have the same flow characteristics as air, Socha said. 
 
 It turned out that the flying saucer cross-section was a surprisingly good shape to take — much better than the cylindrical shape the snake would have if it didn't compress itself. 
 
 Compared to a more familiar flying shape, such as an airplane wing scaled down to snake size, "you'd find the snake is actually comparable," Socha said. 
 
 "The animal has figured out a solution to an engineering problem that we didn't even know we had," Socha said. 
 
 But don't expect to board a 747 with flying-snake-shaped wings anytime soon, as the shape wouldn't be nearly as aerodynamically effective at a plane's size and speed, Socha said. 
 
 Now, the team has to solve another mystery: why the snake undulates once or twice every second while gliding, Socha said. 
 
 Follow Tia Ghose on Twitter and Google+. Follow LiveScience @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience. ||||| By Charles Q. Choi 
 
 Snakes don’t need to be on a plane to fly: Five species of the gliding reptiles can soar as far as 100 feet (30 meters) in the tropical rain forests of Southeast Asia. 
 
 Now scientists have discovered the secret behind how these snakes stay airborne—they twist their bodies into an S shape that resembles an alien’s flying saucer from the side. 
 
 Scientists already knew that flying snakes climb up trees by using ridges on their belly scales to help grip bark as they slither upward, and that when the animals glide downward, they undulate from side to side. (Related: “How Snakes Can ‘Fly.’”) 
 
 These movements—done by flexing the ribs—transform the serpent’s body into a totally aerodynamic surface, according to biomechanist Jake Socha, of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, and his colleagues. 
 
 As frightening as the idea of a 4-foot (1.2-meter) flying snake might be to some, these mildly venomous reptiles are harmful only to small prey. 
 
 Scientists don’t know how often or exactly why flying snakes fly, but it’s likely they use their aerobatics to escape predators, to move from tree to tree without having to descend to the forest floor, and possibly even to hunt prey. 
 
 Watch a video of a flying snake. 
 
 
 
 Clues From 3-D Printing 
 
 To learn more about the aerodynamic forces the snakes generate, Socha and his colleagues used a 3-D printer, which works by depositing layers on top of layers to create 3-D objects. (Related: “Improving 3-D Printing by Copying Nature.”) 
 
 The researchers printed a 3-D rod with a UFO-like cross section that mimicked the body of the paradise tree snake (Chrysopelea paradisi), the most proficient snake glider. The team then placed the rod within a tank of water that flowed over it, re-creating the air conditions the reptiles experience as they glide through the forest. 
 
 The scientists tilted the rod at various angles as water flowed over it at different speeds, and measured how the current moved the rod up or down. 
 
 The results, published January 29 in the Journal of Experimental Biology, showed that at most angles, the snake model’s undulating shape generated enough lift to account for the animal’s gliding ability. (See more snake pictures.) 
 
 The researchers added that real flying snakes appear to glide even better than their findings from the 3-D printed model would suggest. 
 
 They are now investigating what else these reptiles might do to boost their aerial performances. As it is, these serpents remain somewhat Unexplained Flying Ophidians. 
 
 Follow Charles Q. Choi on Twitter and Google+. ||||| The paradise tree snake undulates mid-flight. Credit: Jake Socha, Virginia Tech. The paradise tree snake, C. paradisi, can glide dozens of meters from tree to tree. Credit: Jake Socha, Virginia Tech. 
 
 The snake dangles 49 feet (15 meters) off the ground, tail entwined around a branch. Suddenly, the animal rears up and launches, flinging its body toward the forest floor. 
 
 In other reptiles, the leap would be suicidal, or at least an invitation for broken bones. But the snake in question is a Chrysopelea paradisi, one of five related species of tree-dwelling snakes from Southeast and South Asia. When these snakes leap, it's not to nosedive; it's to glide from tree to tree, a feat they can accomplish at distances of at least 79 feet (24 m). 
 
 What no one knows is exactly how these reptiles manage to fly so far without wings. Now, a new study finds that the snakes' amazing aerial abilities may all be in the way they move. 
 
 "For any flier, you really need to know the basics: How fast is it going, what's the shape of the flier, what is the shape of the wing," study author Jake Socha, a biologist at Virginia Tech, told LiveScience. "With this new study, we now really get insight into what the exact position of the body is as it's in this really developed glide." 
 
 Socha presented his research today (Nov. 22) at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting in Long Beach, Calif. The study will be published this week in the journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics. 
 
 Aerial acrobatics 
 
 Socha has been researching the aerodynamics of gliding snakes for years. His previous studies have found that these snakes flatten themselves as they launch, undulating side-to-side as if they're slithering in mid-air. They glide fast, between 26 and 33 feet per second (8 to 10 meters per second), Socha said. 
 
 To find out more about how the snakes position themselves during the glide, Socha and his colleagues videotaped snakes launching themselves from the 49-foot tower toward the ground. The researchers put white dots on the snakes' bodies so they could calculate where the animal was in space at each point during the flight. The technology is similar to that used to do motion capture for video games or animated movies, Socha said. 
 
 The snakes are more than happy to glide for the cameras, Socha said. 
 
 "They glide; that's what they do," he said. "So they're like, 'I'm outta here, I'm gonna go down there.'" 
 
 Next, the researchers used the video to model and analyze the forces acting on the snakes' bodies. They found that the snakes aren't horizontal during their glide; they're actually tilted up about 25 degrees relative to the airflow created by their flight. They hold the front half of their bodies fairly still, with the exception of the side-to-side undulations. Meanwhile, their tails move up and down. Video of snake flights is available at Socha's website. 
 
 "We definitely find that there are good places to be and bad places to be, places that augment your force production and places that make it less favorable," Socha said. "It seems that the snake is using a configuration that is highly favorable to being a good glider." 
 
 Surprisingly, although the snakes move down toward the ground, the net force on their bodies during the glide is an upward force — at least briefly. That means that if you add up every force acting on the snake, Socha said, you'd be left with a small force pushing the snake skyward. 
 
 The snake doesn't actually start moving up in part because they don't fly far enough for the net upward force to have an effect, and in part because the upward force disappears quickly, Socha said. 
 
 Serpents in flight 
 
 Transient or not, the fact that the snake isn't gliding in equilibrium is exciting, said Greg Byrnes, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cincinnati who studies gliding mammals. 
 
 "You have something that doesn't look like it should be able to fly at all, and it actually is able to fly well enough that it supports more than its body weight with force," Byrnes, who was not involved in the research, told LiveScience. "That's a pretty cool thing." 
 
 "For a long, long time, people have thought it's a very simple process, basically like flying a paper airplane," Byrnes added. "It turns out that's not true." 
 
 The next step, Socha said, is to work out how the snakes' body position affects its glide. 
 
 "The whole snake itself is just one long wing," Socha said. "That wing is constantly reconfiguring, it's constantly reforming and contorting... Parts of the body, depending on where they are in space, might be interacting with the wake from the front part of the body, and this might hurt or help or be neutral." 
 
 The findings could eventually be applicable to building small, agile flying vehicles, Socha said. But, he said, they're also exciting in their own right. 
 
 "Why is it that you don't tumble out of the sky if you're a snake?" he said. "Now we have the framework for doing detailed studies of the aerodynamics."
– Researchers think they've at long last solved, at least partially, the mystery of so-called "flying snakes." The five species of Chrysopelea don't actually fly, but they're impressive gliders, capable of sailing up to 100 feet through the air. Until now, scientists didn't know how they managed it, but now they think they do: As the snakes jump, they flatten out their ribs and contort themselves into an S-shape that sorta kinda resembles a flying saucer, LiveScience reports. "You never find this kind of shape in any other animal flyer; you don't find it in engineered flyers," says one study co-author. "We didn't know if that was a good shape to have." The snake's body develops a curve a little like an airplane wing, the BBC explains, which coupled with its undulating movements generates lift. Researchers hit on the discovery using 3D-printed models in tanks of water, National Geographic reports. But observations of real snakes indicate that they're even better gliders than the model suggested, meaning some aspect of their prowess remains unexplained. (In another recent animal-kingdom discovery, meet the world's new toad.)