Department of Defense Keen to Harness Powers of Flying Snakes

via National Geographic/Jake Socha

"Normal" snakes are scary enough. Especially when you stumble upon a huge one while you're just milling through, say, an otherwise pleasant Queens park. Or when one suddenly emerges from your toilet. But, snakes that can fly? This is utterly terrifying. Which is probably why the U.S. Department of Defense is "studying" them.

The government is funding research at Virginia Tech to figure out how, exactly, the snakes fly, reports the Washington Post.

"Basically . . .they become one long wing," said John Socha, the Virginia Tech researcher who has traveled extensively in Asia to study the snakes and to film them.

These snakes are "unusual," thank God, and an Asian breed that we're unlikely to run into. But they can travel scary distances -- 780 feet! -- in the air. Which gives them plenty of potential for an agency "involved in advanced military technologies of all kinds."

Watch.

[JDoll]