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Close Encounter With A Giant Anaconda In Florida’s Brevard County

February 4, 2016 By Germaine Hicks Leave a Comment

Meeting a giant anaconda isn’t exactly fun.

Leisa Remsberg was taking her dogs for a walk on February 1, when she had a close encounter with a giant anaconda, in Florida’s Brevard County.

Imagine going for a walk with your two little cute dogs on a nice Monday morning. Before leaving the house, you pass the side yard and see a a large, shiny dark object curled up next to the house. Of course, you get close to check that ‘object’ out and you discover… a 9-foot green anaconda. It’s right there, in front of you and, as you remain speechless, the snake rears its head and goes after the two tiny dogs.

That is exactly what happened to real estate agent Leisa Remsberg, the woman from Florida who recently discovered the snake. In an interview given to Florida Today, the woman declared that she ‘wasn’t thinking what it was, because it was so large’ and that once it ‘raised its head up’ and began ‘snapping’ and ‘lurching’ at her dogs,

I started screaming for the dogs right away.

she sustained, still terrified by the event.

A neighbor with experience with Florida snakes went to the rescue by using a shovel to hold the snake down so the woman and her dog could escape. He put the snake inside a plastic tub container with a lid and placed a piece of heavy concrete on top to keep it trapped inside until the authorities could arrive.

This is not the first case of an anaconda appearance in Florida. The second appearance of an anaconda in Brevard County took place within the last few months, in late November of 2015.

On average, green anacondas, which can grow up to 30 feet long, measure roughly 17 feet in length. The species, which weighs in at 550 pounds, is considered to be the largest snake in the world based on its weight to length ratio. The giant anaconda, known formally as Eunectes murinus, is an aquatic species native to South America. Their presence in Florida poses a risk to the state’s native wildlife, Florida Today indicated in a recent report covering the capture of the latest anaconda to appear in Brevard.

So, what happened to the snakes? The first one, that popped up in November, was shot and killed by state wildlife officials. The most recent one, that appeared on February 1 was removed by Brevard County Animal Services and later handed over to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (WCC). According to Investigator Damon Saunders, they will pickle the snake before placing it on display at the Brevard County Museum.

The officials intended to make a scan of the snake, in order to reveal the existence of a microchip indicating an owner. The scan failed to reveal any kind of cheap, which leads to spokesman Greg Workman’s conclusion about the snake:

Basically, it wasn’t there legally […] They’re a top predator. They get huge. They can really decimate an area.

All in all, the good news is that the woman and both dogs were not harmed during the snake attack, but the people from Florida’s Brevard County will surely think twice now before going for a walk on a Monday morning.

Image Source: lifevsfilm.files.wordpress.com

Robot Snakes – Discovering The Secrets On How Sidewinders Move

October 12, 2014 By Brian Galloway Leave a Comment

In the old Wild West movies, one often hears one cowboy call another cowboy a “sidewinder”. It’s a derogatory term for someone who is dishonest and sneaky. The name fits well with the namesake, a snake that moves sideways in order to get around.

People would often wonder how this reptile could move in such a way and now scientists are sure they’ve discovered their secret.

One physicist, Dr. Daniel I. Goldman from Georgia Tech actually studies animal motion and with teaming up with some biologists and robotics experts they studied the way this unusual snake’s unique locomotion.

Dr. Goldman says he’s been interested in the way animals move on sand. The granular makeup of the sand as well as the mechanics of moving on it he’s even studied the sandfish, a wee lizard that appears to swim in sand. A desert dweller really got the doctor’s attention and with his team from Carnegie Mellon and Zoo Atlanta they brought in some live sidewinders and around 400 pounds of sand from the Arizona deserts then built an experimental incline slope and included an air system to keep the sand even after each experiment.

Using high speed videotape the scientists then analyzed the way the sidewinders moved. Their first observation was that the creature didn’t dig deeper even if the incline on the slopes was increased. The snake maintains a greater amount of its body while in contact with the sand as it proceeds by lifting other parts. To see this the researchers built a model of the snake’s movements. They observed two waves, staggered, that ran from head to tail. One wave goes horizontal and parallel to the ground and one vertical like an ocean’s ave. In unison these motions lift the snake’s body to propel it forward. Then the team did the amazing thing by creating and programming a robot to mimic the sidewinder’s locomotion.

The final results were published in the journal Science.

The researchers now see how this form of traveling can assist robots or other mechanisms when moving across sand.

They also found out that not all snakes can do the sidewinder when they tested 13 different types of snakes and only one could make it.

Imitating A sidewinder Snake Robot Style

October 12, 2014 By Germaine Hicks Leave a Comment

Scientists have finally come up with a new one. Studying the way the venomous sidewinder rattlesnake moves on sand and taking that information digitally and programming a robot to imitate it.

The robotic snake has sensors, a processor, and other equipment along a series of joints and links that enable it to move like a sidewinder rattlesnake does and not only that but on a sandy incline.

At first the researchers had to figure out how a sidewinder moves and used high speed video to capture the creatures movements. When they did that they were able to analyze the data and solve that locomotion mystery. As it turns out the snake could lift one part of its body vertically and the other part horizontally. This allowed for the snake to move smoothly with the least amount of energy. As for moving on sand, the researchers imported lots of sand from the snake’s native Arizona desert and put that sand in an enclosure that had a platform that could be raised creating an incline. The snake then navigated up the incline and the scientists recorded that data. They took that data and incorporated it into the robot or robosnake as it’s called.

True to form, the project worked but limitations still only allowed for the robosnake to move up a 20% incline maximum. The scientists also tested around 13 other species of snakes on the incline and found only one could manage the climb.

The applications of this experiment are many. One is that such robots could move and access terrain hitherto inaccessible and gather intelligence or take part in rescue operations. Other applications could involve everything from military to even toys.

The team of physicists came from Georgia Tech, Carnegie Melon University, and Zoo Atlanta. The robosnake was developed by the Carnegie Mellon team and consists of 16 modules that measure about a meter in length.

Imitating nature has been done before with inventions but now because of advanced robotics and computers as well as data collecting sensors and remote control, robotics experts can make far more sophisticated robots to the point of even fooling the public. We’ve seen it in toys for decades but those toys are far less sophisticated than what today’s robotics are coming up with. Researchers are studying the movements of other animals from fish to spiders and the final products that will aid society overall.

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