Study
What Defines Different Modes of Snake Locomotion?
Jayne, Bruce C.
Integrative and Comparative Biology, 2020
A review of the kinematic and force-plate literature on snake movement, proposing explicit criteria for distinguishing modes rather than relying on the traditional named categories, which had accumulated inconsistently.
- Studied in
- Serpentes
- Sample size
- review of kinematic and force studies across snake locomotion
The named modes — lateral undulation, concertina, rectilinear, sidewinding, and arboreal variants — are distinguished by which parts of the body are static against the surface, whether the wave travels relative to the ground, and where propulsive force is generated. Many observed behaviours are intermediate, and individual snakes switch modes with surface and slope.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
Snake locomotion is better described by mechanical criteria than by named categories, and the diversity of modes is a response to the mechanical demands of different surfaces.
How NatureHQ reads it
The useful correction is that there is no such thing as "how a snake moves". A snake moving through grass, up a tree, along a narrow branch, across loose sand and through a tunnel is using genuinely different mechanics each time, and the sand one — sidewinding — looks strange precisely because it is solving a problem the others do not face. A body without limbs turns out not to be a limitation with one workaround but a platform with several.
- A synthesis, so its strength depends on a heterogeneous underlying literature.
- Force measurements exist for far fewer species than kinematic descriptions.
- Laboratory surfaces are simpler than natural substrates.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
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Published by: University press journalsPublished in a university press journal.
This reference was resolved automatically against Crossref on 2026-08-11.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-08-11.