THE 12 MOST COMMON CRAWLING ANIMALS - BIOLOGY - 2026

Some of the most common crawling animals are snakes, worms, leeches, earthworms, or skinks. Crawling is the characteristic of movement of most reptiles and amphibians.

Insects also tend to crawl when they are not flying; terrestrial mollusks such as snails and slugs crawl on a foot specialized for this.

Most of the animals that crawl do so due to their lack of appendages; they must use their bodies to generate a propelling force.

Salamanders crawl, as do frogs and toads when they are not jumping. Lizards crawl with a characteristic side-to-side movement that is replicated by their relatives - snakes.

Most terrestrial invertebrates crawl, including flying species such as flies, moths, and bees. These animals opt for a movement of their 6 legs to move effectively across surfaces.

Some animals crawl at various stages of their life, but not all. Humans, for example, crawl in their infancy and can revert to crawling on all fours when the situation warrants.

However, it is not an efficient way to move when compared to the normal standing posture of adults.

Many land animals have other ways of moving apart from being dragged. An example of this is the gait of horses or the bipedal walk of humans; despite this, crawling on four, six or eight legs is common.

Some animals can also form a ball and roll, as in the case of the pangolin.

Common crawling animals

Snakes

Snakes have four ways of moving. Since they don't have legs, they use their muscles and scales to get around.

The best known method is the serpentine mode, in which they move in an undulating way pushing off any surface such as rocks, trees or earth.

The concertina mode is more used in closed spaces. The snake slows down the back of its body while pushing off and extending its upper body. Then release the top and straighten and push the back.

Surround mode is used on slippery or loose surfaces. In this mode, the snake appears to drop its head forward while the rest of its body follows.

And rectilinear mode is a slow and straight crawling way. The animal uses the large scales on its abdomen to tie itself to the surface as it pushes forward.

Worms

The worms move on the surface using their bristles or hairs as anchors. That way, they can be pushed forward or backward, using those muscles by contracting and stretching them.

Lizards

Lizards are unable to lift their body towards their limbs, so they have to crawl using their limbs and their tail.

Additionally, most species have small structures on their feet that allow them to stick to surfaces through frictional forces. These structures can support up to 20 times the weight of the animal.

Caterpillars

Since caterpillars do not have any bones in their body, they use their abdomen to move. The first step is taken by your belly, with the rest of the body following in an undulating motion. Caterpillars can move over surfaces such as ground and plants.

Leeches

Leeches have suction cups on the top and back of their body. This allows them to crawl using a two-anchor movement: they anchor their lower body and then propel themselves forward with their upper body.

Snails

Snails move using the muscles under their bodies. They contract and stretch the muscles that propel them forward.

At the same time, the snails release a sticky substance that helps protect their gait; this way less friction is caused on the surface and the substance acts as a protective layer between the snail and the ground.

Crocodiles

Crocodiles usually crawl using their belly. This gait is usually slow, although it can be faster depending on the situation in which the animal is.

At slow speeds, classic belly crawl can be observed when its chest, stomach, and tail fall flat on the surface. Their gait is similar to that of the rest of the lizards and reptiles.

Spiders

Spiders can crawl on basically any surface: glass, walls, ceilings, etc.

They have thousands of tiny hairs that create different points of contact between the spider and the surface, increasing the animal's ability to support itself.

Grass lizards

They are a species of limbless lizards, native to Africa. The only limbs they have are small points.

They move in a manner similar to snakes, propelling themselves forward by pushing against contact points in the environment such as rocks, plants, or irregularities in the ground.

Bees

Bees do not have a skeleton, they have an exoskeleton that gives them structure, protection and support.

When bees crawl inside flowers drinking nectar, they use their legs to store pollen. This is essential for plants to reproduce.

Worms

The worms move using retrograde waves, alternating between swelling and contracting throughout their bodies.

The swollen parts of the body are held in place using mushrooms or ketas, which are fine hair that allows it.

Skinks

They are a family of lizards, including skinks, skinks, and skinks. There are more than 1,500 species of this genus and they are quite diverse. Most species do not have a pronounced neck; their legs are short although many species lack limbs.

In many species, their movement is remarkably similar to that of snakes, even more so than lizards with well-developed limbs.

References

1. Snake facts. Recovered from kidzone.ws.
2. FAQ's about worms. Recovered from learner.org.
3. How do caterpillars move? (2012) Recovered from texasbutterflyranch.com.
4. How do lizards climb walls? Recovered from youtube.com.
5. Croccodilian biology database. Recovered from croccodillian.com.
6. How do spiders walk upside down? Recovered from voices.nationalgeograhic.com.
7. Bees: facts. Recovered from idahoptv.org.
8. Limbless locomotion. Recovered from wikipedia.org.