land animals | Page 2 | Biomechanics in the Wild

Superhum(ant) Strength

Leaf-cutter ant Acromyrmex octospinosus carrying eaten apple – Vulcan Termite Pest Control

Have you ever been in the gym and wished that you could lift more? Maybe the solution is hidden underneath the anthill in your backyard. Ant’s are fascinating creatures with remarkable biomechanical properties. Their complex anatomy lends to one of the anomalies in strength of the natural world.

Ant jaws and neck structure allows them to carry weights well over 5,000 times their own weight. For comparison, that would be a 180 lb. man being able to lift 2 Statues of Libertys stacked on each other with his mouth and neck. This incredible feat of strength has been the study of many biologists, because if able to harness this ratio of power, the world would change.

The strength of ants come from the construction of their neck and mandible movements. The geometry of their bodies have been studied by Anderson, Rivera, and Suarez. Their study focused around the geometries of ant’s bodies, especially around the neck area and their center of mass. As seen below in Figure 1, calculations can be made to find the center of mass with variations on species.

From these equations, scientists can understand the positions, proportions, and masses that the ants need in order to create the center of mass needed to hoist large masses over their heads.

Another approach to understanding how ants can lift weights so much heavier than themselves is understanding the biological construction of their necks. The way that Nguyen, Lilly, and Castro found the geometry of ant necks was by using various computer based techniques such as computed tomography and other forms of modeling based off of mechanical data. An example of a computer model based on mechanical data can be seen below in figure 2.

An example of the mechanical testing that Nguyen, Lilly, and Castro conducted involved creating a custom made centrifuge where ants were attached to the edges of the centrifuge by their jaws. By spinning the centrifuge around, the ants are subject to the centripetal force away from their jaws, imitating the force of an ant pulling something with its jaw. By finding the deformation in the jaw, which is the jaw changing it’s geometry due to force being applied, scientists were able to find the stiffness of the jaw and the resistance to deformation (modulus of elasticity). A visual of the experimental schematic can be seen in figure 3.

Figure 3. Ant Centrifuge Experimental Setup

If able to harness the mechanical advantage that worker ants possess, the applications would be endless. Ranging from construction, to creating medical devices, and many other industries, being able to lift massive loads with minimal equipment would prove useful for the entire world. An example would be a small forklift being able to lift an aircraft carrier just be proportion of strength to weight that mimics an ant. The ongoing research looks promising, and we can only hope we can mimic the strength of the tiny insects we see everyday.

Snakes: What makes them slither?

If you had no legs or arms, wouldn’t it be difficult to get from place to place? However, snakes don’t have any legs and they get around just fine! Almost all land animals had legs to propel themselves forward, so how do snakes move so effectively? The biology of a snake involves a series of ribs and muscles that contort a snake’s body to push itself forward. Not only does the snake’s internal makeup allow it to move, but also its exterior. Snakeskin has frictional properties which allow it to remain stationary along an incline with just a few scales in contact with a surface!

Snake moving from branch to branch. — *Photo by Krzysztof Niewolny on pixabay.*

A snake’s ability to slither across the ground is made possible by its ability to bend using a series of muscles along their body. The scientific term for this bending motion is lateral and vertical bending. A snake uses lateral bending to change direction or propel itself forward along a flat surface. Vertical bending is employed when a snake is pushing off a surface intending to move upward, such as in a tree or on a steep rocky slope. Using the terrain upon which the snake is traversing, the snake is able to propel itself forward by pushing off uneven ground, sand, branches, or other obstacles.

Snakes have a series of hundreds of ribs that run along the entire length of their body. Not only do their ribs provide a firm foundation for the snake to push itself off of the ground, but they also provide structural support for the snake to traverse gaps along a surface such as holes, tree branches, or other places where a snake cannot use bending to move. With respect to slithering, the ribs of a snake allow it to bend and coil to get the best contact with the ground.

Close-up of snakeskin showing the layout of scales along the body of a snake. — *Photo by Paul Brennan on pixabay.*

However, it is not just the forces that snakes apply to the ground that allow them to move, but also the makeup of their skin. Snakeskin has frictional properties that allow them to get a better grip on the surface upon which they move. For example, if a surface is slippery or at a steep incline, a snake can increase the surface area their skin covers by changing the angle their scales come into contact with a surface.

Understanding how snakes move without the use of legs is important for engineering applications. Legless robotics can be designed using the concept of the biomechanics behind the movement of snakes. For example, this could be implemented in terrestrial rovers that can travel across uneven terrain. In addition, materials science applications for purposes of gripping can mimic snakeskin for higher friction abilities. This would be greatly beneficial for sports, military, or medical equipment where gripping ability determines overall usability.

Video by Snake Discovery on Youtube

Too Tall to Run: How a Giraffes Height Affects their Locomotion

Seeing a giraffe for the first time, one is amazed by their long necks and long legs, but do you ever wonder how their long skinny legs can support their large body mass as they move about? Studies have shown that a giraffe’s legs undergo a large ground reaction force when walking freely and an even larger ground reaction force when moving at a faster speed than walking.

Deer Science, what’s changing my antlers and why are they important to you?

A deer is a mammal that is recognizable by the majority of people. Typically, the male deer or buck has the unique attribute of antlers. Antlers are made up of bone that develops, grows, and falls off each year.

Growth under Pressure, forces working to constrain size

Allometry and different constraints on the size of land and sea mammals are discussed in this video. A brief explanation of allometry as well as thermoregulation in sea mammals is described in the video.

The hairy feet of the gecko

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to walk on walls? If you’ve ever watched a Spiderman movie or watched a gecko maneuver around its habitat, you probably have. While geckos don’t fight crime, their climbing ability is as fantastic as that of any superhero. Geckos have one of the most unique climbing adaptations of any animal, and scientists are examining the source of this ability to see if human technology could one day achieve something similar.

How Mice Could Help You Regenerate a Lost Limb

If you have ever experienced a nasty scrape or burn, you know the process of healing is not very fun. Human skin can take several weeks to regenerate after an injury and that often comes with a fair amount of pain. For a bigger injury that involves tissue damage, there is often little the human body can do to regenerate larger parts. However, thanks to a small rodent – the African spiny mouse – regenerative medicine for humans could be making huge advances in the near future.

How the Largest Land Animal Stays Cool – And What We Can Learn From It

African Elephants have the largest volume to surface-area ratio of any living land mammal; it’s not a surprise then that they have to dissipate a tremendous amount of heat. You and me eat 2,500 calories a day – an adult male elephant might consume over 70,000 calories each day! This means these gigantic beasts need to remove several kilowatts of heat. So how do they do it? And can we learn anything from these biological marvels?

African Elephants have the largest volume to surface-area ratio of any living land mammal; it’s not a surprise then that they have to dissipate a tremendous amount of heat. You and me eat 2,500 calories a day – an adult male elephant might consume over 70,000 calories each day! This means these gigantic beasts need to remove several kilowatts of heat. So how do they do it? And can we learn anything from these biological marvels?

Down to the Bear Bones: How Polar Bears evolved from Grizzlies to hunt in the Arctic

Katmai National Park in Alaska holds an annual “Fat Bear Week”, in which Twitter followers are asked to vote for the fattest bear in the park. This year’s winner was Holly, somewhere in the range of 500 to 700 lbs. That’s a big bear. However, in 1960, a male polar bear in Kotzebue Sound, Alaska, weighed in at 2,209 lbs. In fact, on average, polar bears weight up to 60% more than Grizzly bears, their closest animal relative.

Canine Hip Dysplasia: What You Should Know

Canine hip dysplasia (CHD) is a degenerative hip disease that tends to develop in large breed dogs, such as the Bernese Mountain Dog, affectionately referred to as Berners. CHD significantly decreases the quality of life of a dog and often leads to complete immobility if left untreated. Experts estimate that about 28% of Berners are affected by dysplastic hips, making them the 8^thmost susceptible dog breed.

Tag: land animals