We Now Know How Tiny Lizards Defy Gravity With Their Gargantuan Tongues
A certain pygmy chameleon can achieve one of the most explosive movements in the animal kingdom, and now scientists know the secret to its power.
The endangered rosette-nosed chameleon, or Rhampholeon spinosus, is capable of flinging its tongue 2.5 times the length of its own body and from zero to 60 miles per hour in a hundredth of a second -- that's 300 times faster than a 2015 Chevrolet Corvette accelerates.
A new study published in the journal Scientific Reports reveals exactly how the small creature makes up in powerful tongue speed what it lacks in size.
Research shows that a chameleon's secret weapon is its ability to "pre-load" large amounts of energy into the tongue's elastic tissue, and this stored energy augments the muscle power used to fling the tongue. And while all chameleons have the same catapult-like apparatus for launching the tongue, smaller chameleons have ones that are larger proportional to their size.
Study:
http://www.nature.com/articles/srep18625
Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lizard-tongue-study_568acf8ae4b06fa6888318d7?ncid=edlinkushpmg00000030
#biodiversity #research #lizards #coolcritters
but how do they get their tongue back in after?
ReplyDeleteStored in the lizard’s throat pouch is a tongue bone surrounded by sheaths of elastic, collagenous tissue inside a tubular accelerator muscle. When the chameleon spies an insect, it protrudes its tongue from its mouth, and the muscle contracts, squeezing the sheaths, which shoot out as if spring-loaded. The tongue tip is shaped so that it acts like a wet suction cup, grabbing the prey. The tongue recoils; dinner is served ;)
ReplyDelete