Squirrels vs Cats

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  • #600872
    feivel
    Participant

    this is actually copied from within another post appearing in the wonders of creation section here

    ever wonder why cats can climb up trees but cant get down, yet squirrels can zip right down trees and poles head first as easily as they go up.

    both of them have front and back claws which dig quite well into wood, whats the difference?

    answer to follow, b’li neder

    #830817
    feivel
    Participant

    well squirrels used to go up trees but they could never come down again

    so after a million years of squirrels stuck in trees, some cosmic rays, mutations, and other birth defects decided in their wisdom to create an unbelievably complex ankle system of tarsals metatarsals muscles nerves, and a brilliant arrangement of tendons that allow the back ankles to turn around 180 degrees and operate under complete control in the exact opposite direction that the ankles turn to go up the tree!

    Evolution apparently decided the cats did not deserve such an arrangement, after consulting with some mice.

    #830818

    pops, did you google the answer??;)

    #830819
    ronrsr
    Member

    for a truly amazing backward/forward foot arrangement, check out the gecko, which can walk up and down glass with ease.

    #830820
    feivel
    Participant

    The secret behind the gecko’s extraordinary wall-climbing ability is a unique quick-release mechanism that allows it to adhere strongly to a surface, but then detach with ease.

    Researchers in the US say that the mechanism could be used to make advanced glues or even car braking systems.

    Geckos get their adhesive ability from sticky hairs – called setae – that cover the lizards’ toes. But the stickiness is unlike conventional adhesives, which either adhere weakly and detach with ease like Post-it notes, or are strong and hard to remove like duct tape. By contrast, gecko hairs paradoxically adhere strongly yet detach easily.

    Bizarre solution:

    To find out what makes this possible, Keller Autumn, a biologist at the Lewis & Clark College in Oregon, US, and colleagues measured the force required to detach gecko hairs from a surface, and how that force changed according to the angle at which it is applied.

    When the force causes the hairs to lie at an angle of about 30 degrees to the horizontal, they can resist enormous forces. “Geckos are vastly over-engineered,” says Autumn. “One gecko could resist the weight of 130 kilograms.” At angles of over 90 degrees, however, the hairs easily became detached.

    And because the hairs are solid structures, they are not damaged in this process and can be used repeatedly.

    Autumn told New Scientist: “It’s such a bizarre solution to an engineering problem. No one would have ever thought of it if it hadn’t evolved in geckos.”

    Gecko adhesive is so effective that he believes it could one day find use in car braking systems. He calculates it could stop a car travelling at 80 kilometres per hour in a distance of just 5 metres, using just one third of a square metre.

    once again modern technology fails to accomplish what blind, random, unplanned birth defects are able to.

    mutations: we salute you!

    #830821
    BTGuy
    Participant

    I can only say that squirrels are rats with good public relations.

    #830822

    Sorry but this has to be said

    DO YOU REALLY NOT HAVE ANYTHING MORE IMPORTANT TO THINK ABOUT????

    or was this suppose to be comical? In that case I am also laughing with you!

    #830823
    feivel
    Participant

    DO YOU REALLY NOT HAVE ANYTHING MORE IMPORTANT TO THINK ABOUT????

    and what is more important to talk about than the wonders of The Boreh? the endless signs of wisdom, plan, purpose and kindness that The Boreh implanted in the world, DAFKA that we should study them, wonder at their cunning and magnificence, and speak about them?

    the Chovos Levavos devotes an entire shaar to the subject of why we are OBLIGATED to do so, by the Torah and by reason.

    no, none of this is intented to be comical.

    it is intended to take your breath away.

    #830824
    wanderingchana
    Participant

    Do squirrels always land on their feet like cats can?

    The echidna is also remarkable with its two sets of inward-facing paws that dig into the ground and make it impossble for a predator to dig them out (or want to, considering the spikes on its back).

    #830825

    feivel I am sorry. you are right.

    #830826
    2scents
    Participant

    Rabbi Avigdor miller focused a lot on these thoughts. He has detailed a lot of similar happy accidents (mutations) that enabled these great things.

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