Fig. 1. Gecko adhesive system. (A) Micrograph of a single gecko seta assembled from a montage of five Cryo-SEM images (image by Stas Gorb and K. Autumn). (B) Nanoscale array of hundreds of spatular tips of a single gecko seta. Note that the field of spatulae forms a plane at an acute angle to the base of the setal shaft. Raising the angle of the shaft above 30° may cause spatular detachment (Autumn et al., 2000; Gao et al., 2005). (C) Ventral view of a tokay gecko (Gekko gecko) climbing a glass surface. (D) Array of setae are arranged in a nearly grid-like pattern on the ventral surface of each scansor. In this scanning electron micrograph, each diamond-shaped structure is the branched end of a group of four setae clustered together in a tetrad. (E) Toe peeling (digital hyperextension, DH) during detachment. Scale bars, 50 µm (D), 5 µm (A), 1 µm (B).