Counterintuitive Findings

To figure out these counterintuitive findings, the researchers conducted an experiment in a hotel room. They rounded up some lizards, gave them a perch, and used a leaf blower to [blank] the effects of high winds. They set up a net to catch any lizards that lost their grip. As the artificial wind blew, the lizards [blank] so the perch took most of the air flow. But their hind legs would stick out, and if those rear limbs stuck out too far, they acted as sails. "Eventually those back legs were blown off the perch, and the lizards were just holding on with their front two legs. And they could only hold on like that for so long as the wind speed [blank] further and further, until eventually they were blown off the perch and into the [blank] so shorter back legs gave a [blank] advantage. A trait that might be passed on to the next lizard generation.