adhere OR attach
61. Modified leaves assist climb: passion flower
"Vetches and passion flowers have modified some of their leaves even more extremely and converted them into tendrils. These grope around in space until they touch the stem of another and swiftly coil around it." (Attenborough 1995:161-162)
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Email62. Eggs glued to leaves: coddling moth
"A European moth that is a serious pest in orchards, lays its eggs in spirals glued together around the twigs of fruit trees. When they hatch, the young caterpillars, while sustaining themselves by eating the leaves immediately around them, spin a...
63. Hooks aid underwater attachment: blackfly
"Blackfly larvae, even when very small, produce large amounts of silk which serves several purposes. First, silk is used for anchorage and explains the extraordinary capacity of blackfly larvae to remain attached or move in fast-flowing microhabit...
64. Sticky proteins serve as glue: mammals
"Bioadhesion may be defined as the state in which two materials, at least one of which is biological in nature, are held together for extended periods of time by interfacial forces. In the pharmaceutical sciences, when the adhesive attachment is t...
65. Pollen fastens to a bee's head: orchids
With European orchids, "If and when a male bee finds the flower, he settles upon the lip, grasping it in exactly the same way as he grasps a female bee, and tries to copulate, thrusting the tip of his abdomen into the fringe of long hairs at the e...
66. Saliva used as glue: swifts
"All members of the Apodinae except the needletails (Hirundapus spp.) use saliva in nest building…" (Fowler and Miller 2003:239)
67. Stem used for climbing: honeysuckle
"Almost every element of plant anatomy, it seems, can be turned into some kind of climbing device. The cheese plant climbs with its roots, sending them out from its nodes, the places on its stem from which leaves normally spring, and wrapping them...
68. Sucker-mouths help tadpoles stick: torrent-stream frog
"[T]he torrent-stream frog's tadpoles thrive in this tumultuous environment because they have evolved enlarged mouths with suction lips that enable them to stick to the surface of a rock while grazing on the algae growing there." (Morell 2001:106-...
69. Stems climb vertical surfaces: English ivy
"Almost every element of plant anatomy, it seems, can be turned into some kind of climbing device. The cheese plant climbs with its roots, sending them out from its nodes, the places on its stem from which leaves normally spring, and wrapping them...
70. Organs serve multiple adhesive functions: camel spider
"Solifugids (Arachnida, Solifugae) have unique evertable adhesive organs on the tips of their pedipalps, named 'suctorial' or 'palpal' organs. Previous studies have shown that these organs enable solifugids to climb smooth glass-like surfaces and ...
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