Flying snake glide trials at Virginia Tech

This week we conclude outdoor glide trials of flying snakes (specifically, Chrysopelea paradisi). We were motivated by the snakes' seemingly poorer glide performance in our indoor tests in The Cube, compared to previous data collected outdoors in Southeast Asia. We worked from a JLG lift, maxing out in height over 18 meters. We ended up seeing some spectacular gliding from the greatest heights, but still didn't see similar performance to previous snakes. This effect might result from the snakes being in a lab colony for multiple years, and/or their larger body size. Isaac is working on it.