January 30, 2025
2 I will read the smallest
See the frogs walking on the water with a high -speed abdomen flop
Small frogs seem to scoop the surface of the water, but high -speed video reveals their secrets.
Graduate researcher Talia Wises observe cricket frogs. With the unusual movement, it looks like skipping over the surface of the water.
Flick a flat stone toward the pond at a right angle to skip with a series of smooth jumps. Long cricket frogs seem to be sliding on the surface of the water with the blessings that contrary to physics. However, when Talia Wis, a bi -engineering graduate student at Virginia Institute of Technology, shot a frog with a high -speed camera, she saw a very different picture.
“The movement is very fast, so if you look at it with the naked eye, you really don’t know the difference,” says Weiss.
For new research in JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY, Weiss and her co -author recorded a skitt cricket frog from the top and bottom of the surface with 500 frames per second, and played the video more slowly. Researchers discovered that the frog was actually a series of belly flops instead of hopping and hopping the surface alone, as the old research explained in an anecdote.
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Slow motion view of cricket frog belly flop.
Rather than actually crossing the water like a basilisk lizard, the frogs take off the water while swimming. Wises say their feet may be too late for true surface hopping.
“To jump to the surface of the water, you need to be ready to store your feet and push down again before approaching the water,” she explains. “And these (frogs) are not preparing for their landing at all. They are a bit like a belly flop. I will not pull it.
“Fast animal movements can really deceive,” says Jasmine Nilodody, a biologist at Chicago University, reveals that the new camera work is actually doing. By carefully analyzing such movements, she adds, “You can think about how you can use the (frog) strategy with a different bio -inspired robot.” “Now we know what to look for.”
