Because one end of the radical is connected to its side, it looks like the bed radical. If it was disconnected then it would be easier to distinguish those two radicals, what`s more - when disconnected it looks more like a snake and every kanji that uses this radical uses it in a disconnected form!
Yeah, it’s a little confusing what they decided to do. The element that is actually in those kanji is 㔾, not 巳.
㔾 is actually a modified version of 卩.
But they probably wanted to use the word “snake” and 巳 does actually mean “snake.”
As far as I can tell, Wanikani is using an existing font to represent radicals. They could try using a different font but it would affect the appearance of all of the other radicals and kanji.
I wonder if there’s any other way to solve the problem.
EDIT: Leebo’s answer is much better.
You`re probably right, but since Wanikani does not even teach 巳 kanji, there is not much sense in using 巳 as radical instead of using 㔾 as radical and calling it snake regardless of origin.
This is an example where WaniKani’s radical system has confused me more than it has helped me.
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