Snakes strike with super speed

Both venomous and non-venomous snakes can strike faster than mammalian prey and predators can react.

Credit: Rex Lisman/Getty

David Penning and his colleagues at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette analysed the defensive strikes of non-venomous Texas ratsnakes (Pantherophis obsoletus) and two species of venomous snake: western cottonmouth vipers (Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma; pictured) and western diamond-backed rattlesnakes (Crotalus atrox). They found that all snakes could accelerate at more than 160 metres per second squared (ms⁻²) and reach speeds approaching 3 metres per second. This enables the animals to cover average distances of 13.6–16.7 centimetres in 66–74 milliseconds.

The highest recorded accelerations of nearly 300 ms⁻² from a ratsnake and a rattlesnake were roughly 10 times those of jackrabbits attempting to escape.

Biol. Lett. 12, 20160011 (2016)