Press Release 09-121
The Secret of a Snake's Slither

Mathematicians uncover the hidden patterns and movements that snakes use to move without legs

View video How do snakes move without legs? It took a mathematician to figure it out. Credit and Larger Version

June 9, 2009

View a video of researchers explaining how snakes move without legs.

Snake locomotion may seem simple compared to walking or galloping. But in reality, it's no easy task to move without legs. Previous research has assumed that snakes move by pushing off of rocks and debris around them. But a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says that it's all in their design--specifically, their scales.

Overlapping belly scales provide friction with the ground that gives snakes a preferred direction of motion, like the motion of wheels or ice skates. Like wheels and ice skates, sliding forward for snakes takes less work than sliding sideways.

In addition, snakes aren't lying completely flat against the ground as they slither. They redistribute their weight as they move, concentrating it in areas where their bodies can get the most friction with the ground and therefore maximize thrust. In this way, snake slithering is not unlike human walking--we, too, shift our weight from left to right to enable us to move.

-NSF-

Media Contacts
Dana W. Cruikshank, NSF (703) 292-7738 dcruiksh@nsf.gov

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2012, its budget was $7.0 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 50,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes about 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards about $593 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

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