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On the Water Lapping of Felines and the Water Running of Lizards a Unifying Physical Perspective

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On the Water Lapping of Felines and the Water Running of Lizards a Unifying Physical Perspective ARTICLE ADDENDUM Communicative & Integrative Biology 4:2, 213-215; March/April 2011; ©2011 Landes Bioscience On the water lapping of felines and the water running of lizards A unifying physical perspective Jeffrey M. Aristoff,1 Roman Stocker,2 Pedro M. Reis2,3 and Sunghwan Jung4,* 1Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; Princeton University; Princeton, NJ USA; 2Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and 3Mechanical Engineering; MIT; Cambridge, MA USA; 4Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Blacksburg, VT USA e consider two biological phenom- lapping of felines and the water running of Wena taking place at the air-water lizards—and show that both involve the interface: the water lapping of felines and same fundamental mechanism that results the water running of lizards. Although from a balance between gravitational and seemingly disparate motions, we show inertial forces. that they are intimately linked by their underlying hydrodynamics and belong Water Lapping and Water Running to a broader class of processes called Froude mechanisms. We describe how We recently reported that the domestic cat both felines and lizards exploit inertia (Felis catus) laps by a subtle mechanism to defeat gravity, and discuss water lap- based on inertial entrainment of liquid ping and water running in the broader from an air-liquid surface.6 The cat lowers context of water exit and water entry, its tongue so that the tip of the top sur- respectively. face touches the liquid surface, without piercing it. It then rapidly pulls the tongue The majority of terrestrial creatures limit back up, thereby creating a liquid column their exposure to aquatic environments. (Fig. 1A), the top of which it captures in Yet, a number of species have developed its mouth before gravity draws it down. We sophisticated means to interact with water found that lapping frequency is tuned to surfaces, for example for locomotion1-3 or maximize the volume ingested per lap and liquid ingestion.4 The legs of a water strider measurements of lapping frequency in wild are contoured with fluted nanogrooves and cats suggest that the mechanism is con- coated with hydrophobic wax, enabling served among felines. Here we draw a com- the strider to skate across ponds with its parison between the lapping of felines and weight supported by surface tension.5 the water-running ability of certain species Key words: feline lapping, lizard water A phalarope’s beak is partially wetting, of lizards. The basilisk lizard (Basiliscus running, Froude mechanism, water entry, allowing the bird to transport prey-filled, basiliscus) is well known for its ability to water exit millimetric droplets into its mouth by run across a water surface (Fig. 1A). Each repeatedly opening and closing its beak.4 step is made of a power stroke followed by Submitted: 12/13/10 For both water strider legs and phalarope a recovery stroke.7-9 On the power stroke, Accepted: 12/15/10 beaks, biological function emerges from a the lizard strikes the water surface and competition between capillary and gravity sweeps its foot downwards, creating an DOI: 10.4161/cib.4.2.14493 forces. For larger organisms or faster pro- air cavity above the foot. This generates *Correspondence to: Sunghwan Jung; cesses operating at the air-water interface, the lift necessary for weight support and Email: [email protected] inertial forces typically replace capillary the thrust used for locomotion. On the Addendum to: Reis PM, Jung S, Aristoff JM, forces in counteracting gravity. These are recovery stroke, the lizard pulls its foot out Stocker R. How cats lap: water uptake by Felis called Froude processes (Fig. 1A) and rep- from within the cavity, prior to its collapse, catus. Science 2010; 330:1231–4; PMID: 21071630; resent the focus of this article. We compare minimizing the drag on the foot and hence DOI: 10.1126/science.1195421 two biological Froude processes—the water the energy required for locomotion. www.landesbioscience.com Communicative & Integrative Biology 213 as water-entry and water-exit processes, respectively (Fig. 1B), both of which are governed by the Froude number (provided their scale or speed is sufficiently large). In water entry, an object (e.g., a foot) penetrates the water surface and entrains air in its wake.9-14 The resulting air cavity elongates as the object sinks. Hydrostatic pressure (from the weight of the surround- ing water) causes the cavity to contract and eventually to split in two; air from the upper cavity escapes from the surface, whereas the lower cavity remains attached to the sinking object. In water exit, an object (e.g., a tongue) moves upward from the surface of water and entrains water in its wake.14-17 This resulting water column elongates as the object rises. Hydrostatic pressure (from the water in the column) causes the column to thin and eventually break in two: water in the lower portion Figure 1. (A) Lapping in felines relies on the formation of a liquid column and water walking in falls under gravity, whereas the upper por- the basilisk lizard on the generation of an air cavity. The dynamics of both processes are governed tion remains attached to the rising object. by the Froude number, Fr. These are just two examples of biological Froude processes, where Water entry and water exit are nearly organisms manipulate the air-water interface for diverse biological functions, including lapping (cat6) and running (lizard,8 duck18). For an introduction to moving at the air-water interface, see an specular; their similarity is not just one of example in chapter 14 of reference 19. (B) Schematic of water entry and water exit. Water lapping appearances, but extends to the forces that and water running are examples of water-exit and water-entry processes, respectively. (Lizard im- govern the cavity and column dynamics. age reproduced with permission from the Journal of Experimental Biology, ref. 8). In both cases, the inertial forces imparted by the object’s motion create a deforma- Froude Mechanisms the time at which the column pinches off tion of the air-water interface (downward is proportional to (R/U)Fr2/3. As a con- for water entry, upward for water exit) and To understand the physics of motion on sequence, we discovered that the lapping gravity acts to return the interface to its water, one typically relies on dimensionless frequency for which the column’s volume horizontal equilibrium configuration. numbers that quantify the relative magni- is maximal is f~ (gH/R2)1/2, where H is the tude of different forces. For example, the vertical excursion of the tongue. When Concluding Remarks Bond number (Bo) measures the relative we measured the lapping frequency of a importance of gravitational to capillary range of felines, we found that it complied A number of animals exploit the physics forces, whereas the Reynolds number (Re) with this prediction, suggesting that many of water entry or water exit to handle or quantifies the ratio of inertial and viscous felines use the same Froude mechanism to navigate water surfaces. Small animals like forces. A common feature of water run- drink. water striders or shorebirds rely on capil- ning and water lapping is that they occur The Froude number also controls the lary forces for weight support and water at Bo>>1 and Re>>1, meaning that vis- dynamics of the air cavity created by the uptake, whereas large animals like felines cous and capillary forces are negligible.1,6,7 basilisk lizard. The lifetime of the cavity, or lizards use inertial forces to perform the The dynamics of the liquid are thus in from formation to pinch-off, is propor- same functions. An understanding of the both cases governed by a competition tional to (R/U)Fr. This dependence pre- underlying fluid mechanics allows one to between inertial and gravitational forces. scribes the minimum running frequency, estimate the fundamental forces at play, Their relative importance is measured by f~ (g/R)1/2, that allows the lizard to pull whose importance can be quantified by the Froude number, Fr = U/(gR)1/2, where its foot out of the water before the cavity means of simple dimensionless numbers R is the characteristic length of the organ collapses. Glasheen and McMahon found such as the Froude number, and reveals interacting with water (the tongue or the that the majority of lizards in their study physical principles unifying seemingly foot), U its characteristic speed and g the satisfied this condition.7 disparate biological processes. gravitational acceleration. In our study on lapping,6 we found that Water Exit and Water Entry Acknowledgements the dynamics of the liquid column created We thank the main subject of our observa- by the cat’s tongue upward motion is gov- The essential physics of water running tions, Cutta Cutta (Fig. 1A), for his feline erned by the Froude number. For example, and water lapping can be understood aplomb throughout the study. We are 214 Communicative & Integrative Biology Volume 4 Issue 2 6. Reis PM, Jung S, Aristoff JM, Stocker R. How 14. Zhu X, Flatinsen OM, Hu C. Water entry and exit grateful to Steve Vogel for his inexhaust- cats lap: water uptake by Felis catus. Science 2010; of a horizontal circular cylinder. ASME J Offshore ible insights into the biological world and 330:1231-4. Mech Arctic Eng 2007; 129:253-64. 7. Glasheen JW, McMahon TA. Size-dependence of 15. Zhang X, Padgett RS, Basaran OA. Nonlinear defor- for drawing our attention to the basilisk water-running ability in basilisk lizards. J Exp Biol mation and breakup of stretching liquid bridges. J lizard. 1996; 199:2611-8. Fluid Mech 1996; 329:207-45.
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