Australia is full of terrifying creatures that you would never want to encounter on a pleasant walk through the woods. Spiders and crocodiles and dingos, oh my.
Well, now you can add jumping snakes to the list.
Yes, you read that correctly. Australian tree snakes belonging to the Dendrelaphis genus can JUMP from tree to tree, flying through the air like winged serpents from mythology…or something like that.
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A Ph.D. candidate named Michelle Graham from Virginia Tech University saw some footage of jumping tree snakes in Australia and set out for Down Under to do some research. Graham set up a kind of obstacle course for the snakes up in the trees using PVC pipe and tree branches. She then observed the snakes slithering and jumping through the trees from branch to branch.
Next, Graham plans to study why the Australian snakes feel the need to propel themselves through the air. Two scientific papers that are set to come out in 2020 will hopefully shed some light on that subject.
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One good thing about this species: they’re not venomous. Whew! Still, I would not, under any circumstances, want one of these snakes leaping from a tree and onto my head or my back…or even into my path, to be honest. Ugh!
Let’s go to the video, shall we? This video shows a Dendrelaphis pictus, in case you were wondering.
Yikes! No, thank you!
Do you have a fear of snakes? Or of any other animals?
Tell us about it in the comments!
