spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

First published online May 18, 2006
Journal of Experimental Biology 209, iii (2006)
Copyright © 2006 The Company of Biologists Limited
doi: 10.1242/jeb.02302
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Related articles in JEB
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Phillips, K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Phillips, K.

Inside JEB

PRIMATES PREFER TO AMBLE

Kathryn Phillips

kathryn{at}biologists.com

When most creatures speed up from a gentle walk, they eventually slip into a trot, and finally a run or gallop at top speed. But quadrupedal primates never seemed to break into a trot on course for a high-speed gallop. According to Daniel Schmitt and his colleagues from Duke University and the University of Alberta, the animals seemed to switch gear from a walk to a gallop with little or no transition between the two extremes. Curious to know which gaits primates adopt at intermediate speeds, Schmitt and his co-workers put primates, ranging in size from 70 g to 25 kg, through their paces to see which gait the animals selected (p. 2042).


Figure 1

Filming the primates, the team gathered clear evidence that the animals rarely broke into a trot, and almost always preferred to `amble' at intermediate speeds. And when the team mathematically modelled the primate's gait, they realised that the ambling gait significantly reduced the amount that the animal's body bounced up and down. Analysing the mathematical model, Schmitt and his colleagues found that the gait that generated the minimum body-bounce in the mathematical model corresponded well with the ambling gait that the animals preferred at intermediate speeds.

Schmitt suggests that primates amble in preference to trotting to retain stability while rushing through trees. `Ambling may also be part of a set of basal adaptations associated with the origin of primates 65 million years ago' says Schmitt.

References

Schmitt, D., Cartmill, M., Griffin, T. M., Hanna, J. B. and Lemelin, P. (2006). Adaptive value of ambling gaits in primates and other mammals. J. Exp. Biol. 209,2042 -2049.[Abstract/Free Full Text]


Related articles in JEB:

Adaptive value of ambling gaits in primates and other mammals
Daniel Schmitt, Matt Cartmill, Timothy M. Griffin, Jandy B. Hanna, and Pierre Lemelin
JEB 2006 209: 2042-2049. [Abstract] [Full Text]  




This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Related articles in JEB
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Phillips, K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Phillips, K.