Snakes cling to trees more tightly than necessary

BBC : Lacking claws or adhesive structures, snakes are forced to flex their muscles when climbing trees. Snakes move via what’s called concertina locomotion, a strenuous process that requires some parts of the body to grip tightly to a surface while other parts are pulled or pushed in the direction of motion. A new study shows that most snakes, while making a vertical climb, actually hold on much more tightly than they need to. Researchers Greg Byrnes of Siena College in New York and Bruce Jayne of the University of Cincinnati monitored five different snake species as they climbed a special pipe equipped with pressure sensors. The researchers observed that all the snakes exerted more than three times the force necessary to support their own weight. That observation led the researchers to propose that snakes value safety over efficiency.