We sometimes find swimming snakes in ponds or rivers. How can snakes without limbs come and go freely in the water?
Although snakes don't have arms and legs to paddle away, they can swim. Almost all snakes swim in the same way. When they are in the water, they bend their bodies into a unique "s" shape, use the fluctuation of their sides to twist their bodies to the left and then to the right, and repeat this action again and again. Each time they twist, they push the water around them back and move their bodies forward with the help of the reaction force provided by water. The side body of snakes living in the water for a long time is very smooth, which greatly improves their swimming speed. This is the secret that snakes can swim.
[terrestrial and aquatic snakes]
Terrestrial snakes and aquatic snakes are no different in swimming posture. They all use the driving force generated by the swing of the body to push the body forward. That is, by the contraction of muscles, through the swing made by the tail and the degree of body bending when the snake's body bends left and right close to the tail, the moving force will push outward from each bend, so that the side and tail of the body will generate the force of pushing water, so as to push the snake forward in the water.
At the same time, because the resistance of the water weakens the driving force generated by the snake, the snake will not swim fast in the water. Of course, like sea snakes, with a flat tail like a fish head, the driving force will be greatly enhanced.
Of course, snake swimming is not for entertainment or meaningless pastime. Snakes are in the water to get food or avoid danger.