These geckos crash-land on rainforest trees but don't fall, thanks to their tails

Many arboreal lizards leap and glide from tree to tree, but what if they can't glide to a gentle, four-point landing? Researchers documented many such leaps of the common house gecko, and found that they often hit trees headfirst and rebounded violently. Their recovery strategy -- grab on with the back feet and leverage their tail to prevent falling. The team created a soft robot with reactive tail that could replicate this previously unknown fall-arresting behavior.

from Latest Science News -- ScienceDaily https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210902125110.htm