{"id":329726,"date":"2026-03-14T18:29:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T18:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/329726\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T18:29:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T18:29:14","slug":"scientists-discover-how-snakes-stand-upright-without-limbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/329726\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists discover how snakes stand upright without limbs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Science outlets including Earth.com<\/a> and Discover magazine<\/a> highlighted a study co-authored by University of Cincinnati Professor Bruce Jayne, an expert in snake locomotion, examining how snakes can stand upright without arms or legs.<\/p>\n

Jayne, a biologist in UC’s College of Arts and Sciences, worked with physicists, mathematicians and other researchers at Harvard University on a study looking at the physics behind this remarkable ability.\u00a0The research combines biology, mathematics and mechanical modeling to explain how snakes manage such a delicate balancing act.<\/p>\n

Researchers discovered that snakes don’t have to stiffen the entire length of their bodies to span a gap in a forest or reach up to a branch or ledge. Instead, the muscles become rigid near the base where the animal’s weight is supported.<\/p>\n

The key is the animal’s strength in maintaining balance as it stretches up or outward, they found.<\/p>\n

The study was published in the Journal of The Royal Society Interface<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Previously, Jayne has studied the many ways snakes navigate obstacles such as tunnels, sand dunes and branches. And in 2021 he discovered a unique way climbing snakes such as brown tree snakes scale wide-barreled objects like tree trunks or light poles that he calls lasso locomotion.<\/p>\n

Read the Earth.com story.<\/a><\/p>\n

Featured image at top: A cobra strikes a defensive pose. Researchers from the University of Cincinnati and Harvard University unlocked the secret behind a snake’s ability to lift itself upright. Photo\/DesignBase\/iStockPhoto<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Science outlets including Earth.com and Discover magazine highlighted a study co-authored by University of Cincinnati Professor Bruce Jayne,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[48477,177231,5169,2061,111,139,69,1518,147],"class_list":["post-329726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-college-of-arts-and-sciences","tag-department-of-biological-sciences","tag-in-the-news","tag-nature","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-research","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}