Dead geckos feet are also sticky

Death has no impact on sticky gecko feet, lab experiments by biologists on live and dead geckos have proved.

"With regards to geckos, being sticky doesn't require effort," said Timothy Higham from University of California, Riverside.

"We found that dead geckos maintain the ability to adhere with the same force as living animals, eliminating the idea that strong adhesion requires active control. Death affects neither the motion nor the posture of clinging gecko feet."

It was thought that geckos required muscle activity to push the foot and toes onto the surface to enhance adhesion, but the theory had never been tested.

By measuring the pulling forces on gecko feet when it was alive and within 30 minutes of death, researchers found no difference in the adhesive forces.

"This is clearly a cost-effective way of remaining stationary in a habitat. For example, geckos could perch on a smooth vertical surface and sleep for the night - or day - without using any energy," said Higham.

The new work suggests that when the gecko lifts it's digits off the ground there is a reduction of adhesion force.

"We found that the dead animals were more likely to experience damage to their adhesive system, which suggests that the active control may actually prevent injury," Stewart said.

"In other words, when the forces become too high, the gecko likely releases the system using its muscles."

The results of the study appeared in the journal Biology Letters.