Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 227, 2501–2512 (2019)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2019-800131-2

Regular Article

Physics of adhesive organs in animals

Mechanics Division, Department of Mathematics, University of Oslo, 0316 Oslo, Norway

^a e-mail: acarlson@math.uio.no

Received: 22 August 2018
Received in final form: 1 February 2019
Published online: 28 March 2019

Abstract

Through evolution, animals have developed organs such as feet, tongues, claws and suction cups, with an extraordinary control of adhesive properties and an outstanding performance in a wide range of challenging environments. We discuss here some of the physical mechanisms animals deploy to adhere and release from substrates, along with specific examples of species that have been particularly successful in each of these categories. We point to how these basic physical mechanisms can have set limitations on how organs may have evolved and how different mechanisms are simultaneously integrated to control their adhesive properties.