A new study has found the tiny structures made up of mushroom-shaped micropillars topped with ultra-small pores allow lizards to quickly detach their tails when needed.
Microscopy images showed that each lizard tail muscle break-off point consists of highly dense mushroom-shaped micropillars with ultra-small nanopores dotting the top of each. These sections work like plugs into sockets, and the tail tends to break off these points – called fracture planes.
They found that the the tail’s structure consisting of deep crevasses between micropillars and other smaller potholes on their surfaces could slow the spread of an initial fracture on the tail.
Their new model suggests that these microstructures in the lizard tail allow for enhanced adhesion under tension, but when faced with a slight twist, the fracture plane cracks, and the tail can separate.
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