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Animal Themes
Reptiles
Rain Forest

Flying Snakes

Flying Snakes
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 3 to 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   7.65

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    tropical, extremely, hence, invisible, mode, species, stunt, suspect, harmful, slender, lower, chasing, daredevil, outward, parachute, rear
     content words:    Southeast Asia

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Other Languages
     Spanish: Las Serpientes Voladoras

Flying Snakes   
1     In the tropical rain forests of South and Southeast Asia, there lives 5 snake species that know how to travel in style. Unlike other snakes that crawl, climb, or swim, these snakes "fly'! This unusual choice of mode of transportation is how they got their name -- flying snakes.
 
2     Of course, flying snakes' flying ability is an overstatement, because they don't have wings. Nevertheless, as flying snakes launch from one tree, undulate across the sky, and land onto another tree, they appear as if they are flying with a pair of invisible wings! So, how do flying snakes perform such a daredevil stunt?
 
3     When a flying snake climbs to a desirable take-off spot, it first dangles from a tree branch high above the ground. Holding onto the branch with its tail, the flying snake hangs like a hook. Then, suddenly, the flying snake seems to lose its grasp and starts to fall. Well, as unbelievable as this looks, the freefall is not an accident. It is how the flying snake launches its "flight."

Paragraphs 4 to 6:
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