Mechanical Testing of Cookie-Cutter Shark Bite Forces
[Past Projects]
Dr. Henry Astley and Hope Zimmerman
Cookie-cutter shark headBites from a cookie-cutter shark on another fish
In the Astley lab, we study the biomechanics of animal behavior, and create devices which use animal-inspired principles to solve human problems. The cookie-cutter shark bites out a hemispherical plug of flesh from its victims. Living in oceanic waters, these sharks prey on bony fish, marine mammals, sharks, stingrays, and even a few submarines in the 70s and 80s. From the few documented human attacks, we know they are able to bite very quickly, able to escape before the prey can retaliate. The precise bite mechanics are not known, and our goal is to use mechanical systems with CT scan reconstructions of the jaws to test various biting strategies.
