KidzTube
Welcome
Login / Register

How lizards balance keeping their tails on and peeling them off

Thanks! Share it with your friends!

URL

You disliked this video. Thanks for the feedback!

Sorry, only registred users can create playlists.
URL


Channel: Science Magazine
Categories: Biology   |   Physics   |   Science  
 Find Related Videos  added
228 Views

Description

To get out of sticky situations, some lizards detach their tails from their bodies and scurry away. Scientists have long wondered how the bones and muscles in these tailswhich help with balance and movementcan sever with ease when needed, but stay firmly in place when not.

Previous studies showed the vertebrae in a lizards tail are ringed by muscles that fit together like plugs and sockets, with each conical plug covered in microscopic bumps. In a new study, researchers zoomed in on the sockets with a scanning electron microscope. They thought they would find concave notches for the bumps to fit in tolike fingers in a glove. Instead, they found only small indentshardly the secure lock-and-release mechanism they were expecting.

But they also found that the top of each bump was dotted with holes called nanopores. To see if they played a role in the detachment, the researchers made model tails out of glass, either with or without silicone patches dotted with nanopore-like grooves. The fake tails with nanopore patches were the toughest to pry apart. Small cracks created by the pores allowed the tail to move flexibly without cleaving off at the wrong moment.

So how do the lizards activate their escape mechanism when needed? It all depends on how they bend and yank their tails, the researchers report today in Science. They filmed real lizards tails with high-speed video (above), and found that when the lizards want to detach, they bend their tails at a side angle rather than by yanking straight back. The researchers tested the motion with their silicone models, and found the patches were much easier to peel off like a sticker than to pull off like a plug. But no need to worrymost missing appendages grow back, though in the form of a cartilage stump, in a matter of weeks.

Read the research: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abh1614

Post your comment

Comments

Be the first to comment









RSS