DARPA believes flying snakes can help U.S. military services

Snakes have a way of crawling into people’s nightmares. This can be a fact that Indiana Jones would never dispute. But what about flying snakes? The DARPA really wants to study these southeast Asian flying snakes, however. These flying snakes are from the genus Chrysopelea, and the armed service appears to want to duplicate their ability. These flying snakes live in trees and have a propensity for major glide time. The potential is so enticing to Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency that they’re funding a Virginia Tech study of the flying snakes’ glide ability, writes the Washington Post.

Flying snakes break the fixed-wing mold

Scientists have observed that most animals with the ability to glide in air accomplish this with fixed wings or body parts that resemble wings, but these flying snakes do something entirely different. Snakes that appear to be slithering in midair are from the Chrysopelea genus. They are observed using this ability to move as far as 800 feet in a single glide and from as high as 200 feet. "They become on long wing," is how Virginia Tech researcher John Socha describes this phenomenon.

Flying snakes can change direction

Scientists are still confused by one part of the Chrysopelea ornata's glide. After taking a flying leap then falling for a when to pick up speed before undulating, the flying snakes are really able to turn within the air. At the point that this ability was discovered, Socha’s previous sponsor – the National Geographic Society – had been supplanted by DARPA, an organization keen on advanced military technology. DARPA says the "physical dynamics of snake flight" are of great interest, but it has yet to reveal more about its research. It is known that the venom of the flying snakes won’t hurt a human, but it is potent enough to kill a small lizard.

The origin of the winged serpent

Scientists believe that birds evolved from dinosaurs – which were reptiles – so the concept of flying snakes is probably not outlandish. Flying snakes might have really impacted the way ancient humans thought. Mankind had been created by a feathered snake deity Quetzalcoatl in ancient Aztec mythology.

Info from

Washington Post

washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/22/AR2010112206308.html

Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quetzalcoatl

Chrysopelea ornata takes flight

youtube.com/watch?v=iwDAsJCB2Pg