Dear readers, welcome to another update on our pet tadpole which metamorphosed into a frog!
(Unfortunately, only one tadpole managed to morph and the others did not survive due to aggression between tadpoles during the stage of metamorphosis)
Our pet tadpole (now turned frog) is alive and healthy!
A new environment has been set up as the froglet no longer lives in water but now primarily lives on land.
The drastic change in behavior and characteristics of tadpoles to frogs often amazes us as they turn from living in water to land, breathing from with gills to lungs and skin and from a herbivorous diet to insect-eating carnivores.
An artificial habitat was created using soil, rocks, pebbles, plants and water in a fish tank and is designed to mimic the natural habitat of the frog in order to ensure that the frog lives in a healthy and natural environment.
Bread was placed in the artificial habitat to attract small insects which made up the diet of the froglet.
Bread was placed in the artificial habitat to attract small insects which made up the diet of the froglet.
Through our observation of the froglet, it has a strong grip on its limbs and it has an amazing ability to attach and move around walls, leaves and pebbles without slipping or falling off.
We were very interested in learning about how the froglet manages to do that and maybe we could obtain some inspiration from the limbs or toes of the frog.
Therefore, some reading has been done and it was discovered that frogs actually have attachment pads consist of hexagonal arrays of approximately 10μm in size and is separated by a gap of approximately 1μm wide on their toe pads which can be seen in part c of the figure below.
(Source: Federie et al., 2006)
These hexagonally-shaped epidermal cells allows them to attach on slippery surfaces by means of wet adhesion. When the frog is climbing through wet surfaces, it squeezes out water from the contact surface through the 1μm gap between its hexagonal epidermal cells and this creates a tight grip that secures the position of the frog, enabling it to firmly and steadily hang on steep, wet and slippery surfaces.
(Source: Ambiguous @ Flickr, 2006)
Astonishingly, patterns and treads on tires were actually created by mimicking the toe-pads of frogs!
Treads on tires we designed as such that when a car is being driven on a wet road, water flows out through the channels between the treads, thus increasing the friction between tires and road surfaces and ultimately provides a firm grip which significantly lowers the exposure of risks of accident when driving under wet conditions.
Other possible applications of this mechanism can also be applied to the shoes of mountain climbers or trackers to improve the grip of climbers on slippery or wet surfaces to prevent accidents which may be life-threatening when climbing at steep or high altitudes.
Thank you! :)
Biomimetics: Lessons from Nature – An Overview
This blog provides very interesting knowledge of things that exist around our daily life, but is often unknown.
ReplyDeleteDid not know that tyre treads were actually created mimicking the toepads of frogs.
Animals teach us a lot about our surroundings and innovation through mimic and actually make our life easier and safer in many areas. We should appreciate and protect them and not harm them for our own good sake.
On a side note, glad that at least one of the tadpoles turned into a froglet! A pity for those who did not survive.
Bravo and keep up the good work, rangers! Look forward to what's to come.
nice
ReplyDeletePoor thing, only one left.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand nice info about the tyre threads.
thank you guys! stay tuned for more informative and inspirational posts :)
ReplyDeleteinteresting fact!
ReplyDeletevery cute frog. what type of frog is that? i wanna buy one
ReplyDeletehi anonymous, as mentioned in the previous post, we predicted that the tadpole we collected is an asian common toad, which usually lurks around our drains, lakes, ponds and other areas with still waters. However, we can never be sure, it may be other types of toads or frogs as most tadpoles are similar to each other. You can always try your luck finding tadpoles in ponds or nearby drains and they are usually lurking around especially after a rainy night :)
ReplyDeleteBecause of your post, I'm glad to know where patterns of tires came from instead of just knowing tires are made out of rubber! Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteglad it was eye-opening for you! stay tuned for more informative and inspirational posts :)
ReplyDeleteI didn't know much about frogs and tadpoles.. awesome read.:)
ReplyDeletethank you rouvin ;)
Delete