Waders (Scolopacidae) surviving despite malaligned leg fractures in the wild: kinematics of bipedal locomotion
BACKGROUND: Bone fracture frequencies and survival rates are essential parameters in skeleton evolution, but information on the functional consequences of naturally healed fractures is scarce. No leg bone fracture healing in the wild has been reported so far from long-legged Charadriiformes (waders)...
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ftleibnizopen:oai:oai.leibnizopen.de:-1q18IgBdbrxVwz6gfWY 2023-07-16T04:00:13+02:00 Waders (Scolopacidae) surviving despite malaligned leg fractures in the wild: kinematics of bipedal locomotion Reichert, Jessica Wilke, Thomas Peters, Winfried S. Mayr, Gerald 2017 https://repository.publisso.de/resource/frl:6406807 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40657-017-0082-5 https://avianres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40657-017-0082-5#Declarations eng eng http:/creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Avian Research, 8:23 3D modeling Tringa(Catoptrophorus) semipalmata Bone fracture healing Numenius arquata Scolopacidae Kinematic gait analysis Long bone malalignment 2017 ftleibnizopen https://doi.org/10.1186/s40657-017-0082-5 2023-06-25T23:12:49Z BACKGROUND: Bone fracture frequencies and survival rates are essential parameters in skeleton evolution, but information on the functional consequences of naturally healed fractures is scarce. No leg bone fracture healing in the wild has been reported so far from long-legged Charadriiformes (waders), which depend on bipedal locomotion for feeding. METHODS: We documented a healed but malaligned tarsometatarsus fracture in a wild Willet (Tringa [Catoptrophorus] semipalmata), and a malaligned tibiotarsus fracture in a Curlew (Numenius arquata) skeleton from a museum collection. Functional consequences of the malalignments were evaluated by kinematic analyses of videos (Willet) and in silico 3D modeling (Curlew). RESULTS: The Willet’s left tarsometatarsus exhibited an angular malalignment of 70°, resulting in a limping gait that was less pronounced at high than at low walking speed. The bird seemed unable to club the toes of the left foot together, apparently a secondary effect of the deformity. The Curlew’s tibiotarsus showed an angular and an axial malalignment, causing the foot to rotate outwards when the intertarsal joint was flexed. Despite the severe effects of their injuries, the birds had survived at least long enough for the fractures to heal completely. CONCLUSIONS: Somewhat unexpectedly, leg fractures are not necessarily fatal in long-legged waders, even if deformities occur in the healing process. Bipedal locomotion on vegetated grounds must have been impeded due to the bone malalignments in both analyzed cases. The birds probably alleviated the impact of their handicaps by shifting a larger proportion of their activities to vegetation-free habitats. Other/Unknown Material Numenius arquata LeibnizOpen (The Leibniz Association) Avian Research 8 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
LeibnizOpen (The Leibniz Association) |
op_collection_id |
ftleibnizopen |
language |
English |
topic |
3D modeling Tringa(Catoptrophorus) semipalmata Bone fracture healing Numenius arquata Scolopacidae Kinematic gait analysis Long bone malalignment |
spellingShingle |
3D modeling Tringa(Catoptrophorus) semipalmata Bone fracture healing Numenius arquata Scolopacidae Kinematic gait analysis Long bone malalignment Reichert, Jessica Wilke, Thomas Peters, Winfried S. Mayr, Gerald Waders (Scolopacidae) surviving despite malaligned leg fractures in the wild: kinematics of bipedal locomotion |
topic_facet |
3D modeling Tringa(Catoptrophorus) semipalmata Bone fracture healing Numenius arquata Scolopacidae Kinematic gait analysis Long bone malalignment |
description |
BACKGROUND: Bone fracture frequencies and survival rates are essential parameters in skeleton evolution, but information on the functional consequences of naturally healed fractures is scarce. No leg bone fracture healing in the wild has been reported so far from long-legged Charadriiformes (waders), which depend on bipedal locomotion for feeding. METHODS: We documented a healed but malaligned tarsometatarsus fracture in a wild Willet (Tringa [Catoptrophorus] semipalmata), and a malaligned tibiotarsus fracture in a Curlew (Numenius arquata) skeleton from a museum collection. Functional consequences of the malalignments were evaluated by kinematic analyses of videos (Willet) and in silico 3D modeling (Curlew). RESULTS: The Willet’s left tarsometatarsus exhibited an angular malalignment of 70°, resulting in a limping gait that was less pronounced at high than at low walking speed. The bird seemed unable to club the toes of the left foot together, apparently a secondary effect of the deformity. The Curlew’s tibiotarsus showed an angular and an axial malalignment, causing the foot to rotate outwards when the intertarsal joint was flexed. Despite the severe effects of their injuries, the birds had survived at least long enough for the fractures to heal completely. CONCLUSIONS: Somewhat unexpectedly, leg fractures are not necessarily fatal in long-legged waders, even if deformities occur in the healing process. Bipedal locomotion on vegetated grounds must have been impeded due to the bone malalignments in both analyzed cases. The birds probably alleviated the impact of their handicaps by shifting a larger proportion of their activities to vegetation-free habitats. |
author |
Reichert, Jessica Wilke, Thomas Peters, Winfried S. Mayr, Gerald |
author_facet |
Reichert, Jessica Wilke, Thomas Peters, Winfried S. Mayr, Gerald |
author_sort |
Reichert, Jessica |
title |
Waders (Scolopacidae) surviving despite malaligned leg fractures in the wild: kinematics of bipedal locomotion |
title_short |
Waders (Scolopacidae) surviving despite malaligned leg fractures in the wild: kinematics of bipedal locomotion |
title_full |
Waders (Scolopacidae) surviving despite malaligned leg fractures in the wild: kinematics of bipedal locomotion |
title_fullStr |
Waders (Scolopacidae) surviving despite malaligned leg fractures in the wild: kinematics of bipedal locomotion |
title_full_unstemmed |
Waders (Scolopacidae) surviving despite malaligned leg fractures in the wild: kinematics of bipedal locomotion |
title_sort |
waders (scolopacidae) surviving despite malaligned leg fractures in the wild: kinematics of bipedal locomotion |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://repository.publisso.de/resource/frl:6406807 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40657-017-0082-5 https://avianres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40657-017-0082-5#Declarations |
genre |
Numenius arquata |
genre_facet |
Numenius arquata |
op_source |
Avian Research, 8:23 |
op_rights |
http:/creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40657-017-0082-5 |
container_title |
Avian Research |
container_volume |
8 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1771548787114770432 |