Brown Tree Snakes

Snakes may not have legs, but they’re skilled at getting around—slithering, swimming, and even gliding through the air. Some also climb trees by snagging their scales on bark and pushing themselves upward. But ecologists in Guam were puzzled when brown tree snakes started climbing poles and trees that a snake typically could not climb. Now scientists have discovered their perplexing tree-climbing method. Using a “lasso method,” brown tree snakes climb certain trees and other structures by looping their tail around the trunk to grip and then shinnying themselves upward.

In places such as Guam (where brown tree snakes are an inva-sive species), this discovery can help ecologists determine ways to control the snakes’ population and limit harm to endangered birds, the snakes’ prey.

Studying God’s creation equips us to better steward the earth. In the beginning, God gave animals a wide variety of designs that wouldn’t have originally been used to harm humans or other animals before the fall. Though animals now act under the influence of the curse, we can observe and learn from their predatory behaviors to develop technologies that could preserve species.

This article was taken from Answers magazine, July–September, 2021, 28.