On the water lapping of felines and the water running of lizards: A unifying physical perspective

Jefferey Aristoff, Roman Stocker, Pedro Reis, * Jung Sunghwan
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Submitted
December 13, 2010
Accepted
December 15, 2010

  Abstract: We consider two biological phenomena taking place at the air-water interface, the water lapping of felines and the water running of lizards. Although seemingly disparate motions, we show that they are intimately linked by their underlying hydrodynamics and belong to a broader class of processes called Froude mechanisms. We describe how both felines and lizards exploit inertia to defeat gravity, and discuss water lapping and water running in the broader context of water exit and water entry, respectively.

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On the water lapping of felines and the water running of lizards: A unifying physical perspective
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