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Sidewinding

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	Topics Sidewinding Topic Home Sidewinding is a type of locomotion unique to caenophidian snakesSnake Snakes , also known as ophidians, are cold-blooded legless reptiles closely related to lizards, which share the order Squama... , used to move across loose or slippery substrates. It is most often used by the Saharan horned viper, Cerastes cerastesCerastes cerastes Common names: Saharan horned viper, Sahara horned viper, horned desert viper.... , and the sidewinder rattlesnakeRattlesnake Rattlesnakes are a group of venomous New World snakes, genera *Crotalus* and *Sistrurus.... , Crotalus cerastesCrotalus cerastes The Sidewinder* is a rattlesnake that inhabits lowland deserts of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.... , to move across loose desert sands, but it is also used by HomalopsineHomalopsinae This is a sub-family of Colubridae which contains 11 genera and 35 species.... snakes in Southeast AsiaSoutheast Asia Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically east o... to move across tidal mud flats. Any number of caenophidian snakes can be induced to sidewind on artificial smooth surfaces, though difficulty in getting them to do so and their proficiency at it vary greatly. The method of movement is derived from lateral undulationLateral undulation Lateral undulation is the most primitive of vertebrate locomotor patterns, present even in hagfish, lampreys, and lancelets.... , and is very similar, in spite of appearances. A picture of a snake performing lateral undulation would show something like a sine waveSine wave The sine wave or sinusoid is a function that occurs often in mathematics, signal processing, alternating-current power... , with straight segments of the body having either a positive or negative slope. Sidewinding is accomplished by simply lifting all the segments with the same slope off the ground. In the resultant movement, the snake's body is always in static (as opposed to sliding) contact when touching the ground. The head seems to be "thrown" forward, and the body follows, being lifted from the prior position and moved forward to lay on the ground ahead of where it was originally. Meanwhile, the head is being thrown forward again. In this way, the snake slowly progresses at an angle, leaving a series of mostly straight, J-shaped tracks. Because the snake's body is in static contact with the ground, imprints of the belly scales can be seen in the tracks, and each track is almost exactly as long as the snake. Below is a crude animated line-drawing showing the locomotor pattern of sidewinding. The light brown areas are the tracks left behind, and also indicate where the body of the snake touched the ground. Note that you can determine the line of movement by drawing a line connecting either the right or left tips of the tracks. See also Terrestrial locomotion in animalsTerrestrial locomotion in animals A number of animals have evolved so as to be able to travel over the ground....