Snakes are slithering venomous creatures famous for their potent bites, and spotting one almost sends chills down a person’s spine.Over the years, these reptiles have developed some unique characteristics that have helped them survive. They have been known to slither, jump, and even glide through the air, but the Dwarf Reed snake has developed a skill for cartwheeling!While this might sound bizarre, it is actually true. What is even more surprising is that the snake is only about 25 centimetres long, yet it can cover around 1.5 metres in about five seconds.
Meet the ‘cartwheeling’ Dwarf Reed snake
Snakes are famous for slithering, and some can even jump or glide. But no snake had ever been seen cartwheeling until a new study described it in the dwarf reed snake. The study was published in the journal Biotropica and the researchers called it a “novel escape behavior.”
How does the dwarf Reed snake cartwheel?
A snake has no limbs, so it must do this differently than a human being. According to the Natural History Museum, the dwarf reed snake curls into an S-shape and uses its tail to launch itself off the ground. Its body then loops forward in the air until the head touches down, and the tail swings over the head as the snake rolls onto its body, and a similar cycle continues, making it look like a continuous behaviour.The 25-centimetre snake can cover about 1.5 metres, six times its own length, in nearly five seconds and rolling down an incline helps the snake gain speed and cover more ground.
Why does a dwarf reed snake do this?
Lead author of the study, Dr. Evan Seng Huat Quah told CNN that the sudden movement startles and confuses predators that depend upon it for hunting their prey. He added that the patchy scent trail it leaves could “throw predators off their scent,” giving the snake time to escape.But the trick has a price. Quah told the Natural History Museum that cartwheeling is very tiring for the snake, which cannot keep it up repeatedly or over long distances, and said it is something used only “under extreme duress.”The snake can use downhill slopes to roll for longer. Pangolins, pebble toads and wheel spiders also roll down slopes to escape, though they mostly let gravity do the work instead of adding effort.
Why nobody saw it before
According to the Natural History Museum, reed snakes are secretive, mostly active at night, and hide in leaf litter or under logs and rocks, so they are rarely seen. Quah photographed one of these snakes twisting rapidly across a road on Mount Jerai in Kedah, Malaysia, in 2019, and campers in Lenggong filmed another after it was poked with a stick. Dr Ian Brennan, a reptile expert at the museum, said local and Indigenous communities often know about wildlife behaviours that science has not yet recorded.
