matched to the environment they will live in. This plastic-
ity may also have pre-adapted ancestors of today’s marine
snakes to an exclusively aquatic environment, since
enhanced aquatic locomotion by offspring growing up in
watery habitats with the associated reduced ability to
locomote on land would have favoured spending more
time in water, driving a progression of increasing adapta-
tion for a fully-aquatic existence. species is heavier-bodied and stronger than more aquatic
sea kraits like L. laticaudata. Scientific tests have
confirmed the superior cliff-climbing abilities of
L. colubrina, however, this species’ speed of terrestrial
locomotion is nevertheless reduced by 80%, respective to
terrestrial elapids, due to adaptations for swimming.
Hydrophiids – the most specialized sea snakes – are
virtually unable to crawl on land.
The trade-off between aquatic and terrestrial locomotion
is illustrated by amphibious sea kraits (family Lauticaudi-
dae), which forage in the ocean, but return to land to shed,
digest prey, court, mate, and lay eggs. Laticauda
colubrina spends up to half its time on land, and must
ascend steep-walled, rocky cliffs. The selective pressure
to retain effective terrestrial locomotion means that this Scientists are interested in studying snakes’ locomotory
abilities as inspiration for designing search and rescue
robots that can scale buildings and cover various
substrates without having appendages that could get
caught. Snakes’ cylindrical, flexible bodies are perfect for
squeezing through tight spaces, climbing up/through
pipes, and traversing all types of terrain.
Blindsnakes are characterised by a number of
adaptations to their fossorial lifestyle, including thin,
cylindrical bodies, blunted heads, reduced eyes, and
thick, smooth, overlapping scales to reduce friction.
Left: the tiny parthenogenetic Flowerpot Snake
(Ramphotyphlops braminus) has been accidently
introduced to many parts of the world, and is
Australia’s only introduced snake. Image by Patrick
K. Campbell.
Below: Ramphotyphlops polygrammicus is found in
New Guinea and parts of Indonesia, as well as north-
eastern Queensland and the islands of Torres Strait.
Image by Michael Cermak..