Yesterday a team of US researchers reported their findings that American alligators use their diaphragm, pelvic, rib, and abdominal muscles to shift their lungs around to aid in swimming. They shift their lungs towards their tail when diving, towards their head when surfacing, and to the side to roll. That's part of how they glide through the water with nary a ripple.
That is buoyancy control! They're like reptilian submarines diving and ascending for the kill. I perform a similar feat with those same muscle groups in an effort to fit my belly into my pants. But I don't need a team of scientists to confirm this.
Thanks for the article, Ida.
Photo source: Reuters via Yahoo! News
Mar 14, 2008
Muscle Control
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5 comments:
Speaking as a scientist (lite), it would be nice to have some sort of quantitative data on the belly-pants maneuver, though.
As a scientist, you would have to track me down (I am elusive), shoot me with a tranq rifle, place me pantless in a glass enclosure with only tight-fitting pants at hand, and watch me go to town.
But that's not advised. There would be no one left to run this blog, and it isn't a pretty sight anyway (or site, for that matter).
haha wombat, you had me laughing for like half an hour (seriously) over that belly-into-pants line. i think i just got seriously busted in class.
That's okay, Wombat. I'm afraid another, equally suitable subject is very close at hand as I type this. You may run free as Nature intended - for now.
Gee, I can do that lung-diaphragm-belly thing frequently. Especially when I chug a whole can of root beer... ;-)
--TwoDragons
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