Be it slithering, swimming or climbing, snakes are known to move in all sorts of ways.
But now, scientists can add a surprising form of locomotion to the list - cartwheeling.
A small species of snake found in south-east Asia has been found to perform the gymnastic manoeuvre to help it escape predators.
The dwarf reed snake is a nocturnal, small reptile and has evolved a cartwheel-like mechanism to bamboozle creatures trying to eat it, in order to buy enough time to escape.
It is the first time scientists have ever identified a snake moving in this kind of way and expands what experts know about the movement mechanics of serpents.
The species lives in leaves and under logs during the day and has been known to be eaten by other snakes and birds.
Scientists encountered a dwarf reed snake in Malaysia and approached it. Startled, the snake threw itself into the air and down a sloped road, covering 1.5 metres in just five seconds.
The snake was captured and it repeated the behaviour several times as it tried to escape.
Pictures reveal that the animal curls itself into an S-shape and launches head-first into the air by pushing its back end into the ground and propelling upwards.
The whole body leaves the ground and, upon landing, the animal immediately coils again in preparation of another launch.
“The cartwheeling motion was sustained by the snake repeating the recoil-and-roll manoeuvre,” the scientists wrote in their paper, published in the journal Biotropica.
They added that the sudden cartwheeling likely “confuses and startles” predators and “gives them valuable time to escape”.
The scientists believe that cartwheeling will not only befuddle predators with good eyesight but also those that rely on smell to track their prey, as it will leave an incomplete scent trail.
“My colleagues and I were excited when we successfully captured images that documented cartwheeling behaviour in this species,” said study author Dr Evan Seng Huat Quah, from Universiti Malaysia Sabah.
“We believe that this behaviour may be more widespread in other small snake species, especially members of the sub-family Calamariinae, but the lack of records is probably an artefact of the challenges in detecting and observing these secretive species.”
