Bruce Jayne, a biologist at the University of Cincinnati, co-authored the new paper, which examined the locomotive abilities of three brown tree snakes (like the one pictured here) and a scrub python.

As a long and wiry scrub python slithers its way from branch to branch on a tree, it can effortlessly lift itself upright to climb onto a higher perch. But how does it do it? With no arms and legs to ...