Nature creates round objects all the time (stones in a river, a hedgehog in a ball,...), but the principle of an axle is not found as far as I know.

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[–] 10 points 2 months ago

Not sure if you're serious or not, but wheels and axles are used for a lot more than just transportation. Pottery wheels predate vehicles by about 1,000 years. Windmills and water wheels use interlocking wheels and axles to grind grain. A windlass is essentially just a rope tied to a wheel on an axel for hoisting stuff up, like a bucket in a well.

Not that this matters to the discussion of naturally occurring wheel-and-axle structures. Just an interesting little aside on the value and versatility of wheels.

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