WIKIMEDIA, BISCUTELLA
Geckos living in areas with little rain but lots of humidity maintain dry skin with microscopic hairs that corral water drops and expel them from the surface, according to a study published this week (March 11) in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
Researchers from the University of the Sunshine Coast, James Cook University, the University of Queensland in Australia, and the University of Oxford examined the skin of ground-dwelling box-patterned geckos (Lucasium steindachneri) under a scanning electron microscope. The scientists found that the skin was covered in densely packed spiny hairs, each a few micrometers in length, which had also been previously identified in other gecko species. By trapping pockets of air, the spines force water on the skin’s surface to remain as ...
