Snakes evolved over time a way of achieving locomotion without using legs. The Prairie King Snake (Lampropeltis calligaster calligaster) uses three types of movement, like any other snake. It achieves lateral undulation, rectilinear motion, and concertina motion. Sidewinding is a fourth type of movement that the Prairie King Snake does not perform, while other snakes do.
In the slick, tiled hallway, the snake arranges itself into s-shaped coils and attempts to move, though rather slowly, across the floor. It has an especially hard time gripping the slick tile in an environment that it has never experienced before in nature and, more than likely, would never experience in nature. The snake anchors one portion of its body and moves the other portion of its body forward. This particular snake was trying to perform lateral undulation almost to the point of sidewinding, when it should be working to achieve rectilinear motion. Lateral undulation, the most common form of motion, is where the snake forms the familiar wavy S-shape. In this form of motion, the coils of the snake's body push horizontally against the ground in a backward and diagonal direction. Instead of this form of motion, the snake should be performing rectilinear motion. In this form of motion, the snake stays in a straight line and essentially bunches itself together in order to move forward like an inchworm.
Four chairs were placed, spread out slightly so the legs had space between them, in the same hallway as before. The snake pushes off of the chair legs occasionally, using them for leverage on the slick tiles. The same chairs were, then, pushed closer together so the legs were touching each other. In this configuration, it was much easier for the snake to perform lateral undulation against the chair legs. The snake also moved much faster than the previous trials. It was much easier for the snake to push off, having the legs closer together.
