Snakes partition their body to traverse large steps stably
Sean W. Gart, Thomas W. Mitchel, Chen Li

TL;DR
This study reveals how kingsnakes adapt their body partitioning and gait to traverse large steps with variable surface friction, enabling stable movement in complex 3-D terrains.
Contribution
It uncovers a novel body partitioning strategy in snakes that facilitates stable traversal of large steps in complex terrain, expanding understanding of snake locomotion.
Findings
Snakes partition their body into three sections with distinct functions.
Partitioned gait adapts to step height and surface friction changes.
Body partitioning maintains stability during complex terrain traversal.
Abstract
Many snakes live in deserts, forests, and river valleys and traverse challenging 3-D terrain like rocks, felled trees, and rubble, with obstacles as large as themselves and variable surface properties. By contrast, apart from branch cantilevering, burrowing, swimming, and gliding, laboratory studies of snake locomotion focused on that on simple flat surfaces. Here, to begin to understand snake locomotion in complex 3-D terrain, we study how the variable kingsnake, a terrestrial generalist, traversed a large step of variable surface friction and step height (up to 30% snout-vent length). The snake traversed by partitioning its body into three sections with distinct functions. Body sections below and above the step oscillated laterally on horizontal surfaces for propulsion, while the body section in between cantilevered in a vertical plane to bridge the large height increase. As the…
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