Types of flying snakes

Chrysopelea is a small genus of colubrid snakes, the family Colubridae, famous for gliding. They are the so-called flying snakes. They do not have wings or true flight. Instead, a flying snake launches from a high branch, sucks in its belly, flattens its ribs to turn its round body into a wide, concave ribbon, and undulates through the air to control its descent and steer toward a landing point. This controlled glide is what sets the genus apart from nearly every other snake.

The genus contains roughly five recognized species. Well known members include the Golden Tree Snake, the Paradise Flying Snake, the Banded Flying Snake, and the Sri Lankan Flying Snake. As colubrids, they fit within the largest snake family, a group that holds the majority of the world's living snake species and that ranges enormously in size, color, and habit.

Flying snakes live across South and Southeast Asia, including India, Sri Lanka, southern China, and much of mainland and island Southeast Asia. They are arboreal, meaning tree dwelling, and are at home in forests, plantations, parks, and gardens, often near human settlements. In general terms they are slender, agile, large eyed snakes with bright or boldly patterned scales, frequently green, black, and yellow with red or orange markings, which helps separate them from heavier bodied ground snakes. Exact identification of a specific snake should be left to a qualified herpetologist or local expert.

These snakes are rear-fanged. They carry a mild venom delivered through enlarged teeth set toward the back of the upper jaw, which they use to subdue small prey. They are not considered dangerous to people, and bites are rare and typically cause only minor local effects. Even so, no wild snake should be handled. Misidentification is easy, a bite can still cause infection or a reaction, and you cannot be certain in the field what you are holding. If anyone is bitten by a snake, treat it as a medical matter, stay calm, keep the limb still, and contact emergency services or, in the United States, Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222.

Ecologically, flying snakes are active daytime hunters that prey on lizards, frogs, small birds, bats, and rodents, hunting through the canopy and dropping or gliding between trees to move and to escape threats. Like most colubrids they reproduce by laying eggs. Their gliding ability is unusual among snakes and has made the genus a long running subject of scientific study into how a limbless animal can shape its body to move through the air.