Spreading ribs help snakes fly

I use "fly" loosely here to mean the ability to remain in the air for a long time without plummeting to the ground, so I guess the technical term for the aerial abilities of the Chrysopelea genus would be "glide." Either way, these snakes have been all over my news feed, so I decided it would be a good idea to share them here. A study printed in the February 1 issue of the Journal of Experimental Biology examined the aerodynamics behind the paradise glider in particular, which can "fly" on average 10 meters when starting from 10 meters in the air; one of the researchers measured a 21 meter glide.

Picture from Alan Couch on Wikimedia Commons under CC Attribution 2.0

What they found was that these snakes, which are native to southeast Asia, spread their ribs when they glide to create lift. It's similar to the way that sugar gliders or flying squirrels spread their limbs to expose their flaps of skin. They also actively jump from their branches using their tails as anchors, and this allows better control over where they're gliding. These factors combine with whipping their bodies, a maneuver that the researchers think functions like a bike racer drafting off the racer in front, for maximum lift.

Aerodynamics tests were conducted with a 3D model of the flattened snake, and even though it's not sleek and smooth as a stealth jet, it still creates enough lift to carry the snake the average 10 meters. After gliding, the snakes' ribs return to their normal position, and they look just like normal, round snakes. While this seems like an intriguing aircraft idea, I'm not sure that having retractable or foldable wings would soften the landing much.