How Do Snakes ‘Stand’ Upright Nearly Stick-Straight? New Research Points to How They Pull Off the Gravity-Defying Feat

These clever creatures seem to concentrate their muscle activity near their bases, which helps them cross gaps between tree branches in the wild

Sarah Kuta | Daily Correspondent

April 2, 2026

A man holding a snake — 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. Joseph Fuqua II / University of Cincinnati

Snakes are biological engineering marvels. They have no arms or legs, yet some of these creatures can stand nearly straight upright, erecting long lengths of their soft, flexible bodies vertically like flagpoles.

But how do snakes defy gravity and remain balanced in this seemingly precarious position? Scientists recently unraveled this biological mystery, and they say their findings could one day help improve the design of robots.

A snake climbing from one pipe to another with its body very straight in between — The scientists created a snake obstacle course involving two horizontal pipes placed at different vertical distances from one another. Bruce Jayne

To stand upright, snakes do not activate muscles throughout their bodies. Instead, they seem to concentrate muscle activity near their base, an efficient and stable strategy that reduces the energy the animals must expend while crossing gaps between tree branches in the wild, researchers report February 25 in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

“Snakes are kind of like muscular ropes,” says David Hu, a bioengineer and roboticist at Georgia Tech who was not involved with the research, to Science News’ Rohini Subrahmanyam. “They can basically perform magic tricks, flexing their bodies and preventing [themselves] from falling.”

For the study, the scientists investigated four snakes: three brown tree snakes and a scrub python. In the lab, the creatures completed an obstacle course of sorts. The researchers used a pair of two-inch-wide horizontal pipes, with one raised higher than the other. The pipes were covered in four-inch-long pegs, mimicking branches that protrude from tree limbs.

They started each trial by placing a snake on the lower perch, hoping it would find its way up to the higher one. They gradually increased the vertical distance between the pipes from 12 inches to 31 inches—or until the snake could no longer bridge the gap. Scientists recorded videos of each climbing process, which they later analyzed.

The brown tree snakes could reach the upper perch even when the vertical distance exceeded 50 percent of their total body length. The scrub python’s climbing abilities were even more impressive, exceeding 70 percent of its total body length.

All four snakes employed similar strategies to reach the higher perch. They curved their bodies into an S-like shape, with most bending near the bottom perch, and then extended the upper part of their bodies into a tall, nearly straight, vertical posture.

From here, the researchers used mathematical modeling to make sense of the snakes’ gravity-defying feats. The animals probably focus their muscle activity on a “boundary layer” at the base of their bodies near the lower perch, the team found. When the snake holds the part of its body above the “boundary layer” in an upright, nearly straight position, gravity has little leverage to pull the creature down.

“Curvature and muscular activity are large near the lower perch where the snake turns upwards, while in regions where the snake is vertical, no muscular forces are required since the gravitational torque vanishes there,” the researchers write in the paper.

Did you know? Lasso locomotion

In 2017, a brown tree snake in Guam astounded scientists with an unusual climbing tactic they dubbed “lasso locomotion.” The snake looped its body around a vertical pipe, then shimmied its way to the top, where it killed three locally endangered Micronesian starlings.

Getting into the vertical pose doesn’t seem to require much energy. But holding the pose appears to be much more demanding, which is probably why snakes sway a bit when they’re upright.

“The amplitude of these oscillations is relatively small, but clearly present, suggesting that these are a result of the stabilization process requiring large muscular forces,” the researchers write.

Moving forward, the researchers say their results could help explain a range of similar biological feats, such as garden eels maintaining their vertical body position in strong ocean currents to feed on drifting zooplankton or elephants elongating and extending their trunks. What they learn might even apply to the human spine, as well as the long necks of birds such as ostriches.

The findings may also have implications for robotics. Engineers are developing snake-like robots that can be used for medical procedures, exploring celestial bodies and underwater ecosystems, and rescuing victims of natural disasters. Taking inspiration from snakes may help engineers build soft, flexible robots that are easier to control or require less electricity to operate.

“By concentrating control where it counts, engineers may learn to build machines that are both efficient and resilient,” says lead author Ludwig Hoffmann, a mathematician at Harvard University, in a statement.

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