Awesome Snakes

Meet hemeroplanes triptolemus, AKA the snake-mimic caterpillar. Most of the time, little guy looks like a stick with a bunch of legs. But when provoked, it shows off one of nature’s most fascinating adaptations – its head puffs up to look like the head of a viper to scare off predators. Mark Bowler got up close with this amazing species.

We’ve always had it in our minds that snakes stuck to the ground. But it turns out that some of these reptiles can climb trees and actually glide through the air. Nature Video offers a look at this unusual behavior and how a tree snakes’s undulating movement improves its aerodynamics.

Small in size, but big on style, Herschel Supply’s Trade Carry On in “Creepers Black” is your TSA-approved way to bring snakes on a plane. And centipedes. Measuring 21.5″ x 14″ x 9″, the four-wheel ABS hard-shell luggage has a retractable handle, neoprene padded handles, two-way zipper, and black-and-white striped fabric liner.

After explaining how we might just have a chance of surviving a dip in a swimming pool filled with sharks, the guys from What If are back to tell us if it’s safe to go back in the water, only the water has been replaced with the venom of hundreds of thousands of snakes.

Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes? Ophidiophobics look away, but everyone else check out this sweet poster provides a scientifically-accurate catalog of every known snake species in the US and Canada. Available as an 18″ x 24″ OR 36″ X 48″ print.

(Loud) Engineers from Japan’s Tohoku University and National Institute of Technology are developing a truly unusual firefighting device. The machine self-balances on its water stream and can snake its way into difficult to reach locations as it sprays water on flames.

(PG-13: Language) In what just might be the best/worst idea since Sharknado, this action comedy simultaneously spoofs Straight Outta Compton and cheesy horror flicks by setting loose a giant mutant snake in the middle of the story of an up and coming rap group.

Footage of an amazing robot that mimics the flexibility of a snake. The OC Robotics Series II – X125 system can reach into confined and hazardous locations and conducts tasks using interchangeable tool tips. The latest version has a 10 foot arm that can hold up to 22 pounds.

Michael Delaney decided to fly his GoPro-equipped drone within striking distance of a pit of rattlesnakes, when the totally predictable happens, and it crashes among the deadly snakes. We’re not sure where the drone sound ends and the rattlers begin. (Thanks Paul!)

As if the world didn’t have enough problems, a team of engineers developed this creepy and slithering robo-snake to haunt our nightmares. It’s not bad enough that it can chase you on dry land – it can follow you into the water and swim.

A motorcycle rider is speeding down the road in Brazil at 164mph when an unlikely stowaway pays him a visit at top speed. We were surprised that it wasn’t Samuel L. Jackson under the helmet.

Nature is just plain weird. Somehow this rat snake has decided that traveling along the mortar lines is the best way for it to climb this brick wall. Or maybe it’s just showing off. Who knows?

Apparently fanny packs are for real men. Not only is this guy crazy enough to go into a tiny pit full of the most pissed off cobras we’ve ever seen. He does it in flip-flops with his pants rolled up!