Frogs propel themselves by kicking water backwards using a synchronised extension of their hind limbs and webbed feet. To understand this propulsion process, we quantified the water movements and displacements resulting from swimming in the green frog Rana esculenta, applying digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) to the frog's wake. The wake showed two vortex rings left behind by the two fe...

The hydrodynamic bases for the stability of locomotory motions in fishes are poorly understood, even for those fishes, such as the rigid-bodied smooth trunkfish Lactophrys triqueter, that exhibit unusually small amplitude recoil movements during rectilinear swimming. We have studied the role played by the bony carapace of the smooth trunkfish in generating trimming forces that self-correct for ...

While experimental analyses of steady rectilinear locomotion in fishes are common, unsteady movement involving time-dependent variation in heading, speed and acceleration probably accounts for the greatest portion of the locomotor time budget. Turning maneuvers, in particular, are key elements of the unsteady locomotor repertoire of fishes and, by many species, are accomplished by generating as...

Wing-assisted incline running (WAIR) is a form of locomotion in which a bird flaps its wings to aid its hindlimbs in climbing a slope. WAIR is used for escape in ground birds, and the ontogeny of this behavior in precocial birds has been suggested to represent a model analogous to transitional adaptive states during the evolution of powered avian flight. To begin to reveal the aerodynamics of f...

We employed a dynamically scaled mechanical model of the small fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster (Reynolds number 100-200) to investigate force enhancement due to contralateral wing interactions during stroke reversal (the ;clap-and-fling'). The results suggest that lift enhancement during clap-and-fling requires an angular separation between the two wings of no more than 10-12 degrees . Within...

The function of the heterocercal tail in sharks has long been debated in the literature. Previous kinematic data have supported the classical theory which proposes that the beating of the heterocercal caudal fin during steady horizontal locomotion pushes posteroventrally on the water, generating a reactive force directed anterodorsally and causing rotation around the center of mass. An alternat...

Basal ray-finned fishes possess a heterocercal tail in which the dorsal lobe containing the extension of the vertebral column is longer than the ventral lobe. Clarifying the function of the heterocercal tail has proved elusive because of the difficulty of measuring the direction of force produced relative to body position in the aquatic medium. We measured the direction of force produced by the...

The mean wake structures of a cube (square cylinder) and circular cylinder height-to-width aspect ratio 1.0, at Reynolds number 1.78 × 104 based on the obstacle width, were investigated experimentally. boundary-layer thickness was 0.14 height. study performed using thermal anemometry two-dimensional digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV). Streamwise observed in for both cylinders included we...