Busy with science in a tropical tree, 200-feet off the ground, I heard a squirrel. Looking, I saw not a rodent, but a 3-foot serpent, dangling in a long, lazy S. Gently swaying, it leapt free, its body flattened and sinusoidal as it sailed away, wiggling like it would in the water.
The flying snake crossed 50 yards of empty air, approached a smooth trunk, reared up, straightened out, and stalled. After sticking its vertical landing, the reptile inched up the distant tree and disappeared.
Quite a feat for the beast famously condemned to crawl.
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This is a neat link on a recent study of flying snake movements: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01935-z?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=1af892beb9-briefing-dy-20200701&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-1af892beb9-42717831
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