What slithers like a snake, swims like a fish and lives in the Sahara? The sandfish lizard, of course. This small reptile, which measures just 10 centimeters long, can swim through the sand dunes at up to 15 centimeters per second. But how does it do it?
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology used a high-speed x-ray camera to peer through the sand and see. The little lizards, it turns out, use a far different mode of locomotion under the sand than they do at the surface.
“Once below the surface they no longer use their limbs for propulsion," study leader Daniel Goldman said in a statement. “Instead they move forward by propagating a traveling wave down their bodies like a snake.”
The lizard’s swimming style also helped Goldman and his team understand the physics behind movement in different types of grainy substances—findings that could provide lessons for engineers looking to build robots that can make their way through a variety of materials.
Watch video of the lizard swimming through sand below.
Image courtesy of Ryan Maladen/Lionel London
Read More About: lizards, biomechanics
You Might Also Like
Discuss This Article
Subscription Center
Most Popular Blog Posts
9,000-year-old brew hitting the shelves this summer
New solar-cell efficiency record set
AIDS vaccine surprises scientists, proves partially successful
Is birth control the answer to environmental ills?
Editor's Pick
-
Adapting to the Freshwater CrisisForward-thinking experts are getting a better handle on the growing global water shortage and coming up with innovative approaches to ensuring the security, safety and sustainability of this resource
Basic Science Newsletter
Get weekly coverage delivered to your inboxPodcasts
-
60-Second Earth
RSS ·
iTunes
The Jellyfish Menace
click to enable
-
60-Second Science
RSS ·
iTunes
Plants Share Light If Neighbor Is Related
click to enable
Slideshows
15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense
In 2012 neutrinos melt Earth's core, and other disasters
Information in the Holographic Universe
Fight to protect California condors from lead ammunition moves to Arizona
Circulation of LHC Beams Could Resume in Earnest over the Weekend
Measuring Up: New NIST Director, Plus Big Budget Put Measurement Science in Public Eye
How Long Can a Nuclear Reactor Last?
What to Do About Endocrine Disruptors? A Q&A with Linda Birnbaum



