科學(xué)家解開了飛蛇如何運動的謎團(tuán)

科學(xué)家解開了飛蛇如何運動的謎團(tuán)

Flying snakes are able to undulate their bodies as they glide through the air, and those unique movements allow them to take flight, scientists have found.

科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)，飛蛇在空中滑行時能夠使身體起伏，這些獨特的動作使它們能夠飛行。

These snakes, such Chrysopelea paradisi, also known as the paradise tree snake, tend to reside in the trees of South and Southeast Asia. While up there, they move along tree branches and, sometimes, to reach another tree, they’ll launch themselves into the air and glide down at an angle.

這些蛇，如金縷梅，也被稱為天堂樹蛇，往往居住在南亞和東南亞的樹上。在樹上，它們會沿著樹枝移動，有時，為了到達(dá)另一棵樹，它們會飛到空中，然后以一定角度滑翔下來。

For their research published in the journal Nature Physics, scientists from Virginia Tech put motion-capture tags on seven snakes and filmed them with high-speed cameras as the snakes flew across a four-story high theater.

弗吉尼亞理工大學(xué)的科學(xué)家們在《自然物理學(xué)》雜志上發(fā)表了他們的研究成果，他們在七條蛇身上貼上了動作捕捉標(biāo)簽，并在這些蛇飛過一座四層樓高的劇院時用高速攝影機拍攝了下來。

Jack Socha, a professor in the department of biomedical engineering and mechanics at Virginia Tech who has studied these snakes for more than 20 years, worked with his colleagues to build a 3D model after measuring more than 100 live snake glides.

弗吉尼亞理工大學(xué)生物醫(yī)學(xué)工程與力學(xué)系教授杰克·索查(Jack Socha)對這些蛇進(jìn)行了20多年的研究，他在測量了100多條活蛇滑翔后，與同事們一起建立了一個3D模型。

Their model factors in frequencies of undulating waves, their direction, forces acting on the body, and mass distribution. With it, the researchers have run virtual experiments to investigate aerial undulation.

它們的模型因素包括波動波的頻率、方向、作用在物體上的力和質(zhì)量分布。利用它，研究人員進(jìn)行了虛擬實驗來研究空中波動。

“In all these years, I think I’ve seen close to a thousand glides,” said Socha in a statement. “It’s still amazing to see every time. Seeing it in person, there’s something a little different about it. It’s shocking still. What exactly is this animal doing? Being able to answer the questions I’ve had since I was a graduate student, many, many years later, is incredibly satisfying.”

索查在一份聲明中說:“這些年來，我想我已經(jīng)看過近1000次滑翔了。”“每次看到都讓人驚嘆。親自去看，會有一些不同。太令人震驚了。這只動物到底在做什么?許多年后的今天，能夠回答我從研究生時代就有的問題，是一種令人難以置信的滿足。”

In one set of experiments that aimed to discern why undulation was part of each glide, they simulated what would happen if it wasn’t. They did this by turning it off. When their virtual snake couldn’t undulate in the air, its body would fall.

在一組旨在辨別為什么波動是每個滑翔的一部分的實驗中，他們模擬了如果不是波動會發(fā)生什么。當(dāng)他們的虛擬蛇不能在空中波動時，它的身體就會掉下來。

That test, paired with simulated glides that kept the movement going, confirmed their hypothesis — that aerial undulation enhances rotational stability in flying snakes.

這項測試，加上模擬的滑翔運動，證實了他們的假設(shè)——空中起伏增強了飛行蛇的旋轉(zhuǎn)穩(wěn)定性。

“This work demonstrates that aerial undulation in snakes serves a different function than known uses of undulation in other animals, and suggests a new template of control for dynamic flying robots,” the scientists conclude in their paper’s abstract.

科學(xué)家們在論文摘要中總結(jié)說：“這項研究表明，蛇的空中波動與其他動物的已知波動作用不同，并為動態(tài)飛行機器人提供了一種新的控制模板。”。