Thorny Devil (Moloch horridus) Can Supply Its Own Water

Function

This animal with a devilish face and appearance is a type of lizard called Thorny Devil (Moloch horridus) that inhabits the desert regions of Australia. Conical spines cover the surface of the lizard’s body, making it look almost like a cartoon character. The spines are useful both for defense against predators and for survival in dry areas. The surface of the spines has very narrow grooves that extend radially from the tip of the spines. These grooves connect to other, very fine grooves (5-150 micrometers wide; one micrometer is 1/1000 of a meter) in the scales that cover the lizard’s entire body. These grooves channel water to the mouth of the lizard. When water touches the thorny scales, the lizard’s capillary action moves the water through the fine grooves and to the mouth of the lizard. Although it is very difficult to get water while living in the desert with little rainfall, this amazing lizard survives because it can collect water from all over its body, without wasting a single drop.

Functional Classification

Resouce/Energy/Information Collection & Storage:
Water recovery
Defense/Stability:
Resistance to outside threats

Environmental Solution Classification

Related Literature

Technical Application

Products and Services

Type of Business

Proposals of Applied Technology

This lizard’s ability to collect water from the thorny scales all over its body can be used to develop devices that automatically collect moisture from the air or rain water and transport it as drinking water, helping eliminate water shortage problems in arid regions with little rainfall. Also, capillary action, a phenomenon in which liquid naturally rises against gravity, can be utilized to develop technology to automatically transport water to the top floor of a tall building without water pumps, saving energy. Also, the process of evaporation lowers the environment’s temperature by using its heat to vaporize liquid. This mechanism can be used to develop a system that will automatically supply water to evaporative cooling systems, as well as the creation of water-supplied firewalls. The Thorny Devil’s ability to collect water can also be useful in the development of systems that collect, transport, and purify water from fog or rain without the use of water pumps, contributing to energy conservation.

Proposals of Applied Industry

Related Life Style