Functional specialisation of the pelvic limb of the hare (Lepus europeus).
TLDR
The pelvic limb of the hare was found to contain substantial amounts of hip extensor and adductor/abductor muscle volume, which is likely to be required for power production and stability during rapid turning.Abstract:
We provide quantitative anatomical data on the muscle–tendon architecture of the hare pelvic limb (specifically muscle mass, fascicle length, pennation angle, tendon mass and length). In addition, moment arms of major pelvic limb muscles were measured. Maximum isometric force and power of muscles, the moment of force about a joint, and tendon stress and strain were estimated. Data are compared with published data for other cursorial mammals such as the horse and dog, and a non-specialised Lagamorph, the rabbit. The pelvic limb of the hare was found to contain substantial amounts of hip extensor and adductor/abductor muscle volume, which is likely to be required for power production and stability during rapid turning. A proximal to distal reduction in muscle volume and fascicle length was also observed, as is the case in other cursorial quadrupeds, along with a reduction in distal limb mass via the replacement of muscle volume by long distal limb tendons, capable of storing large amounts of elastic energy. The majority of hare pelvic limb muscle moment arms varied with joint position, giving the hare the capacity to vary muscle function with limb posture and presumably different locomotor activities.read more
Citations
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Functional anatomy and muscle moment arms of the thoracic limb of an elite sprinting athlete: the racing greyhound (Canis familiaris)
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A computational analysis of limb and body dimensions in Tyrannosaurus rex with implications for locomotion, ontogeny, and growth.
TL;DR: It is concluded that adult T. rex had body masses around 6000–8000 kg, with the largest known specimen (“Sue”) perhaps ∼9500 kg, and that the limb “antigravity” muscles may have been as large as or even larger than those of ratite birds, which themselves have the most muscular limbs of any living animal.
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Biomechanics of predator–prey arms race in lion, zebra, cheetah and impala
Alan M. Wilson,Tatjana Y. Hubel,Simon Wilshin,J. C. Lowe,Maja Lorenc,Oliver P. Dewhirst,Hattie L. A. Bartlam-Brooks,Rebecca A. Diack,Emily Bennitt,Krystyna A. Golabek,Roger C. Woledge,J. Weldon McNutt,Nancy A. Curtin,Timothy G. West +13 more
TL;DR: Although cheetahs and impalas were universally more athletic than lions and zebras in terms of speed, acceleration and turning, within each predator–prey pair, the predators had 20% higher muscle fibre power than prey and 72% greater deceleration capacity than their prey.
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Arboreality, terrestriality and bipedalism
TL;DR: The full publication of Ardipithecus ramidus has particular importance for the origins of hominin bipedality, and strengthens the growing case for an arboreal origin.
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