Geckos are nature’s champion climbers. With remarkable ease, they can scamper across ceilings and up smooth vertical surfaces, and they do so at speed. A vertically running gecko can cover 15 times the length of its body in a single second. So far, scientists have focused their attention on the gecko’s amazingly adhesive feet but a new study demonstrates the importance of a neglected piece of their climbing gear – their tails. Geckos use their tails to stop themselves from falling, and to land safely if they do.

A gecko’s foot is a marvel of biological engineering. Rather than relying on glues, suction or static, they stick to surfaces by exploiting ‘Van der Waals forces’, the weak forces that bind molecules