Tiny snakes in Southeast Asia escape danger through an extraordinary sequence of cartwheels, and laboratory footage now reveals the mechanics of their movement. Published on 19 October in Current Biology, the research examines three species belonging to the genus Pseudorabdion. Scientists had previously shared photographs of a dwarf reed snake performing this behaviour in 2023.
The investigation followed an account of the behaviour that ecologist Yosuke Kojima of Toho University in Japan heard from a colleague in Sarawak, Malaysia, in 2019. Researchers collected snakes measuring approximately 11 to 28 centimetres from Malaysia’s Kubah National Park, where they typically hide beneath leaves. Their sample comprised 11 Pseudorabdion saravacense, one Pseudorabdion collaris and one Pseudorabdion longiceps, with six Calamaria reed snakes providing a comparison. Tested individually on a 2.2-metre track, the snakes received a gentle tap to encourage movement while cameras recorded them from above and the side. Every Pseudorabdion individual cartwheeled; none of the Calamaria snakes did. Rolling speeds reached roughly six to 13 kilometres per hour.
Each manoeuvre begins with the body curved into a C and the head raised towards the direction of travel. The snake whips its tail backwards, becomes briefly airborne, then swings the tail over its head. Contact between the tail and the ground initiates the next rotation. Despite this explosive movement, the head remains relatively stable. How this behaviour evolved, and whether particular anatomical features or differences in nervous-system control enable it, remain open questions.
