Fangs, spines, tusks (IMAGE)

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau

Fangs, spines, tusks

Caption

A new study compared the physical characteristics of various plant and animal puncture tools, finding tradeoffs between a tool’s puncture efficiency and its ability to resist buckling. Of 143 species studied, those with the highest performance balancing these competing demands included, in yellow, a rose prickle, top right, a scorpion’s stinger, center, and a shark’s tooth, lower left. Other puncture tools included in the study were, counterclockwise from top left, cactus spines, ant mandibles, dog teeth, walrus tusks, sea urchin spines and a Tyrannosaurus tooth. 

Credit

Public domain photos by, from top, left to right: BLMArizona, Insects Unlocked/UT Austin, AnRo0002; middle, left to right: Gary Todd, Jbjensen1, Josh Plueger/USAF; bottom, left to right: Michelle Passeroti/NOAA, Stefanie Leuker, Joel Garlich-Miller/USFWS

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License

Public Domain

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