Saturday

World's Strongest Grip

Scientist were studying the Florida Palmetto Beetle Larva because of its rather unique defense mechanism: it covers itself in fecal strands to keep predators away. The little insect is equipped with a special flexible turret on its abdomen which directs and bends the strand, and then drops glue on the end of the strand to attach it to a special fork on the insects back. This web of fecal strands gets bigger and bigger until the larva begins to enter the adult stage.

In the adult stage the beetle has cleaned up, and now leaves it’s droppings behind. But as an adult it has an even more unique and amazing defense system: it’s feet.

When people try to pull one of these iridescent blue bugs off a palmetto frond they will have quite a war of wills on their hands. This bug just will not let go! This strength intrigued curious scientists, so they measured the holding power of these bugs in a lab. Turns out this brute can resist pull weights of up to 148 times it body mass. That’s like a 155 pound man resisting 23,000 pounds of force pulling against his body.

The beetle’s six feet are amazing. Each foot has 10,000 smaller feet with blunt ends. These blunt ends are covered with an oil of just the right viscosity to attach each small foot to almost any solid surface. The oil and foot structure create the resistance to separation. This is a complex system which includes precision physical design, oil chemistry, and an oil production and delivery system. Our Creator is amazing!

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