Snakes more efficient at moving through sand than lizards
JAN 13, 2015
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.028558
New York Times : In 2013, Daniel Goldman of Georgia Tech and his colleagues revealed the mechanics of how the sandfish lizard “swims” through sand. Based on their work and the combined solid and fluid properties of granular materials such as sand, they assumed that a more slender animal would be a more efficient swimmer. Using x-ray photography, they watched shovel-nosed snakes move through sand and found that the prediction was correct. However, the increased efficiency had less to do with the snakes being thinner and more to do with their ability to create more wave-like shapes with their body than the sandfish could.
© 2015 American Institute of Physics
