Leapin' lizards!
How some bird and reptiles walk on water
March 27, 1996
Web posted at: 9:00 p.m. EST
(CNN) -- As a lizard skips across the water with relative ease, if you look closer, you may notice a smirk on his small reptile face. He can do something most creatures can't.
And now scientists have found the secret of how some lizards and birds pull off this amazing feat.
Harvard researchers studied basilisk lizards, which routinely trot across the surface of ponds in Central America.
They found that the lizards start each step with a quick foot-slap and powerful downward stroke on the water. A bubble of air follows the foot, briefly forming an air pocket on top of it.
The lizard has just enough time to pull its foot out before the air pocket closes, so it avoids getting slowed down by the drag of the water.
Could humans do the same thing? Authors James Glasheen and Thomas McMahon say no -- a person would have to stroke his or her foot downward at about 70 miles an hour to duplicate what the 3 ounce lizards do.
But for creatures that can manage it, running on water is much more efficient than swimming against the water's drag.
The scientists say their research is adding to basic knowledge of what happens when objects strike water.
The study was published in this week's issue of the journal Nature.
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