My colleagues and I recently completed research that explains how geckos use a combination of techniques to perform this amazing feat. The ability to walk on water has been recorded in smaller animals such as the water strider, which are light enough to be held up by the water’s surface tension, the force between the water molecules at the surface. They are too weak to hold themselves up using surface slapping alone and too heavy to leave the water’s surface unbroken. By analysing videos of geckos moving across the water, we found that their gait was similar to that of the basilisk. But unlike basilisks, which aren’t affected by changes in the water’s surface tension, our experiments showed that geckos’ speed and head height were cut by half when we added detergent to the water, reducing the surface tension.

Source: National Post December 07, 2018 16:52 UTC