Flexible snake armour: Biology could inspire systems in engineering with minimized abrasion

Snakes are highly specialized legless animals, which have evolved around 150 Million years ago. Although without extremities their body is exposed to constant friction forces. The PhD-Student Marie-Christin Klein and Professor Stanislav Gorb of Kiel University found out how snake skin is adapted to legless locomotion. The skin is stiff and hard on the outside and becomes soft and flexible towards the inside, independent of habitat. Klein and Gorb are publishing their current results in today’s issue of the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

Read the whole article on Physorg

More from Physorg