Sand swimming lizard: sandfish

Abstract

We use high-speed x-ray imaging to reveal how a small (~10cm) desert dwelling lizard, the sandfish (Scincus scincus), swims within a granular medium [1]. On the surface, the lizard uses a standard diagonal gait, but once below the surface, the organism no longer uses limbs for propulsion. Instead it propagates a large amplitude single period sinusoidal traveling wave down its body and tail to propel itself at speeds up to ~1.5 body-length/sec. Motivated by these experiments we study a numerical model of the sandfish as it swims within a validated soft sphere Molecular Dynamics granular media simulation. We use this model as a tool to understand dynamics like flow fields and forces generated as the animal swims within the granular media. [1] Maladen, R.D. and Ding, Y. and Li, C. and Goldman, D.I., Undulatory Swimming in Sand: Subsurface Locomotion of the Sandfish Lizard, Science, 325, 314, 2009