What happens when you put salamanders in a wind tunnel? They stretch their limbs out like a human skydiver, a position they take in the wild to slow their descent when jumping out of trees
“The ferns mats are a refuge up there that allow them to survive, but it’s a harsh world,” saysat the University of South Florida. “There are obstacles and dangers, including possibly falling out of the tree.”
While working with the salamanders in a lab, Brown noticed the amphibians willingly leapt from his hand with their limbs splayed. “After they jumped, we realised that they assumed this parachuting posture,” says Brown. “They seemed to have control, but in real-time, it’s impossible to tell.”So, Brown and his team designed an experiment that would allow them to watch the action in slow motion.
in a vertical wind tunnel. The machine, which resembles a miniature indoor skydiving facility, allowed the researchers to record the nuances of the salamander’s motion for a few seconds on camera.“We dropped them in the wind tunnel, and everybody was kind of floored initially,” says Brown. By outstretching their legs, the salamanders slowed their vertical speed by up to 10 percent and used their tail as a rudder to glide horizontally.
To see if this ability was limited to wandering salamanders, the team also put three other species through the same trial: arboreal salamanders (
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