Sticking to it with Tokay Geckos

Geckos are a special class of reptile, and they are found on every continent except Antarctica. There are many species in a wide variety of habitats, so it is not surprising that they come in a range of sizes. The smaller geckos are considered good pets.

They are also of interest to scientists pursuing the field of biomimetics. That is, taking ideas from what is found in nature, developing them for human use, then crediting the puny god of evolution instead of the Creator. In the case of geckos: The way their feet stick to smooth surfaces.

Tokay gecko, Wikimedia Commons / Richard Ling (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The tokay gecko would be a challenging pet. They can bit rather hard, are fast — and have a loud, obnoxious call that someone imagined sounded like "tokay," hence the name. Let the scientists deal with those things as they remove the latest escapee from the ceiling. Gecko feet and the way they can adhere to a surface, then release at will, is fascinating. Tokays provide bigger feet to examine.

One biomimetics application is gecko tape, which is useful for robots to climb the walls. (Just what I need, a robot climbing up outside, looks through the window, and spies on me while I write these here weblog posts.) They have also inspired adhesive materials that cling and release, some of which are in medical areas.

A team of scientists has recently uncovered new evidence of how geckos can deftly scuttle around vertical surfaces without falling off.1 The animals studied to reveal this ‘new trick to their stick’ were tokay geckos (Gekko gecko). These are the largest known species of gecko, so make excellent test subjects.

The rest can be found if you climb over to "The toes of the tokay." Okay?