Gecko species have the ability to

The researchers were extremely surprised by this skin cleansing mechanism of the gecko.

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Self-cleaning ability of gecko body

Recently, Australian scientists have discovered a new strange ability of geckos - that is, the body's self-cleansing mechanism. To draw this conclusion, researcher Jolanta Watson observed the behavior of a gecko in a glass case for a long time.

Researcher Watson said gecko living in the Australian desert - said there were rare rainfall and water was scarce. However, when the night falls and early in the morning, the weather is wetter, it is possible to produce more dew and a little dew has settled on the skin of geckos. Allowing the skin to " flood " in the mist is a fertile environment for bacteria to grow and multiply. Therefore, the gecko body used a self-cleaning mechanism.

When investigating the lizard's skin under a microscope, the experts found that the lizard's skin layers were arranged like a circular dome. Each layer is covered by very small hairs, several micometers long.

Skin image of gecko on a microscope (left photo) and microscopic hairs on the skin (right photo).

The skin, the tail of the gecko has a structure that contains an extra bag to trap the air and prevent water from penetrating between the gaps of the skin layer . When dewdrops, water droplets settle on the skin, geckos will catalyze dew droplets merging together. When merged into one, they will be shot out.

The researchers explain that, when dew droplets unite, they carry the same mass but the contact surface area will decrease slightly. At this time, some of the surface energy will turn into kinetic energy, when large enough to "turn " off the skin of the gecko and shoot into the air.

All this will happen without any help from outside forces. According to experts, this will help geckos can automatically clean the skin easily. Along with water, dirt, dangerous spores will follow that " shoot " out of the gecko body.

Watson said: " Keeping the surface clean can reduce the growth of bacteria and fungi on the skin. This opens up new ideas for practical applications. I continue to study the skin structure of geckos ".