UCSB Science Line
Sponge Spicules Nerve Cells Galaxy Abalone Shell Nickel Succinate X-ray Lens Lupine
UCSB Science Line
Home
How it Works
Ask a Question
Search Topics
Webcasts
Our Scientists
Science Links
Contact Information
How do snakes move on the ground?
Question Date: 2013-02-19
Answer 1:

Snakes have muscles that move them in various curved ways like S's and C's and other curves. When I was digging in my garden last week, I cut the tale of a lizard. The lizard got away, but the tail stayed there, wiggling and wiggling is S-like curves for maybe 5 minutes. One thing that surprised me was that the tail was trying to move forward only - not backward - even though the lizard and its brain were gone. The tail kept wiggling, in the forward direction, out of my hand. I wonder if snakes and lizards can move backwards. Or maybe the lizard tail was trying to move forward, and the tail was still following those nerve impulses after it was cut off.

As the tail wiggled, 4 pink muscle bundles moved a bit out of the cut end. They looked like they were in a square, around something in the center, but the tail was very round.

At the end, the tail wiggled slower and slower. That's because it was using up its chemical energy. It needed chemical energy to move, and it wasn't getting sugars and other food molecules to make more chemical energy, after it was cut off. Most chemical energy in animals is called 'ATP.'

Keep asking questions! Best wishes,


Answer 2:

The snakes slither - they produce a traveling wave down their bodies that pushes themselves along.



Click Here to return to the search form.

University of California, Santa Barbara Materials Research Laboratory National Science Foundation
This program is co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation and UCSB School-University Partnerships
Copyright © 2020 The Regents of the University of California,
All Rights Reserved.
UCSB Terms of Use