Scientists reveal diverse ways snakes move beyond slithering

You know that scene in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone where Harry accidentally frees a boa constrictor from the zoo? The snake gracefully glides out of its enclosure as if by magic. But there’s nothing supernatural about how snakes move. So how exactly do they get around without legs? They do it by coordinating hundreds—in some cases many hundreds—of muscles that connect to their vertebrae (the individual bones that make up the spine), ribs, and skin, says Jessica Tingle, a biologist and assistant professor at Brown University’s Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology. Put another way, when a snake moves, it does a full body workout.