Tiny Suction

● It has long been known that the gecko lizard can easily walk on an upright pane of glass. But how is this accomplished? A modern encyclopedia expressed the view that at the end of each toe there is a pad made up of thousands of tiny hooks; the hooks allow the lizard to cling to a surface that seems to be very smooth. However, recent studies using a scanning electron microscope reveal that the millions of tiny brushes on a gecko’s toes do not have hooks on them. Rather, they have minute suction cups only 7.8 millionths of an inch across. So suction is the answer after all.