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Animal locomotion

How to walk on water

Nature volume 424, pages 621–622 (2003)Cite this article

How the short legs of juvenile water striders propel the insects across water has perplexed researchers. It now appears that walking on water shares features with the locomotion of birds, insects and fish.

A glance at the surface of a pond reveals one of the more delightful images of summer: the shimmering ripples made by the graceful strokes of water striders. Water striders are insects that are adapted for locomotion and foraging on top of still water. Long hairy legs keep these animals afloat, but how do they glide so effortlessly across the surface? Models of water-strider locomotion have proposed that the animals move forwards by creating surface waves that carry momentum backwards. An elegant study by Hu, Chan and Bush1, described on page 663, shows that this view is, quite literally, superficial. Like the oars of a rowing-boat, a water strider's legs create swirling vortices that carry momentum beneath the surface of the water. It is the rearwards motion of these vortices, and not the surface waves, that propels the animal forwards. This insight solves a paradox related to the motion of juvenile water striders, and helps to form a more cohesive picture of animal locomotion.

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Figure 1: Locomotion in fluids.

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  1. the Division of Engineering and Applied Science, and the Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 91125, California, USA

    Michael Dickinson

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  1. Michael Dickinson
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Dickinson, M. How to walk on water. Nature 424, 621–622 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/424621a

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