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Tropical lizards have a stick-to-itiveness in the strong wind that shames TV weather reporters. Now we know why, thanks in part to a powerful leaf blower.
In American hurricanes, Irma and Maria tested a group of small lizards hugging trees, and scientists were perfectly placed to see which reptiles survived. Why.
Next, Harvard researchers mounted the leaf blower to observe how 47 Caribbean critters were standing on a wooden rod.
Under the winds of tropical storms, lizards basked. As the wind speed increased, they continued to cling even though it was becoming more difficult. Even at 164 km / h, the lizards grabbed the mast with two sticky front legs while their tails and hind legs fluttered like a flag
"All the lizard needs, it's an umbrella and the picture would be perfect, "said lead author of the study, Colin Donihue.
But there is not much that a small lizard can take. At 174 km / h, he was flying the lizard's time.
Do not worry. No lizard was injured in the lab test.
"They will fly in the air, but they are gently in the net and everyone has been sent home" unscathed, says Donihue, an evolutionary Harvard biologist. secret weapon to survive hurricanes? Survivors had 6 to 9% larger toes, significantly longer fore limbs and smaller hind limbs compared to the population before the storm, according to a study published in Nature's Wednesday.
The study is the first to show natural selection due to the hurricane, Donihue said.
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