# How would "biological wheels" work?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 18, 2007, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-biological-wheels-work/412235 "2007-07-18T06:31:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kitemaker\_chuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a88e4f/32.png) [@kitemaker\_chuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitemaker_chuck)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-biological-wheels-work/412235/1 "2007-07-18T06:31:19Z")
Hi Everyone! Of all the forms of locomotion evolved by all of the known animal species (prehistoric and present-day) on planet Earth (swimming, crawling, hopping, etc.), none have yet evolved a “biological wheel”. By the term “biological wheel”, I don’t mean animals who roll themselves into a ball and then roll down a hill. I’m thinking of something more complex, perhaps like something in a socket like a leg or arm (or something to that effect.) What kind of “biological mechanism” would have to be evolved in order for an animal to have wheels as a part of their natural physiology? Anatomically, how could such a physical body part work? Just because it hasn’t appeared in nature doesn’t mean that it’s impossible, does it? I think that it would be really neat to speculate on how something like this would work! ---
**Author:** ![Scienceman123](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Scienceman123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scienceman123)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-biological-wheels-work/412235/2 "2007-07-18T06:32:14Z")
Didn’t Cecil answer this? ---
**Author:** ![Otara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Otara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otara)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-biological-wheels-work/412235/3 "2007-07-18T06:47:21Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5\_209.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_209.html) ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-biological-wheels-work/412235/4 "2007-07-19T17:16:06Z")
Maybe they would work like [these little chaps](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Escher%2C_Curl-up.jpg). With my knowledge of German I can just about puzzle through the Dutch text. Escher solved the axle problem by imagining the entire creature to be one large wheel. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-biological-wheels-work/412235/5 "2007-07-19T17:28:37Z")
[QUOTE=kitemaker\_chuck] I’m thinking of something more complex, perhaps like something in a socket like a leg or arm (or something to that effect.) [/QUOTE] Like a scaled up [Flagellum](http://amazingbeauty.org/nature/ABbiology02-baby.html), with the tail fused into a circle? ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-biological-wheels-work/412235/6 "2007-07-19T20:38:37Z")
I read a book years ago where the main character was a genius geneticist who designed custom critters. One of them had wheels. No Axle, just pegs on the main torso. The lubricant for the hub doubled as a nutrient for the wheel portion. I don’t think the author addressed the issue of tactile feedback from the wheel to the body. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2007, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-biological-wheels-work/412235/7 "2007-07-19T21:11:39Z")
Retief, a diplomat with the Corps Diplomatique Terrestrienne, encountered wheeled aliens in [Retief’s War:](http://www.baen.com/library/0671318578/0671318578__17.htm) > [@](#): > > Retief spun, intercepted an eager junior closing in from the left, caught him by his vestigial wing cases, sent him reeling back to collide with his partner as Scar-face feinted, twisted the club from the two-pronged grip of the nearest cop, ducked, and jammed it through the spokes of the alien’s yard-high main wheels. The victim stopped with a screech and a twanging of broken spokes. Big Leon met a second charging Voion with a roundhouse swipe, yelled as his fist glanced off the armored and thorned thorax, then landed a blow that spun the creature aside. Retief, ready, spiked its main wheels with the club he had wrenched from his last victim, just as the sole undamaged Voion struck Big Leon a vicious blow behind the ear. Leon turned with a roar, picked up the cop bodily, and slammed him against the barkeeper’s podium. > > “Here!” the barkeeper shrilled. “I am Gom-Goo and I dance the Dance of Distress—”