ScienceDaily (Aug. 15, 2012) — Snakes are highly specialized legless animals, which evolved around 150 million years ago. Although without extremities, their body is exposed to constant friction forces. The PhD-student Marie-Christin Klein and Professor Stanislav Gorb of Kiel University found out how snake skin is adapted to legless locomotion. The skin is stiff and hard on the outside and becomes soft and flexible towards the inside, independent of habitat. Biology could inspire systems in engineering with minimized abrasion.
Klein and Gorb are publishing their current results in the August 15 of the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
Snakes inhabit all large ecosystems apart from the Polar Regions. They are able to climb trees and burrow underground. The skin, exposed to a good deal of friction, has to last until molding takes place, which is every two to three months. "The skin of snakes therefore has to be optimized against abrasion wear," assumed Marie-Christin Klein at the beginning of her research.
Continued: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120815082717.htm
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