Effect of walking speed on the gait of king penguins: An accelerometric approach
International audience Little isknownaboutnon-humanbipedalgaits.Thisisprobablyduetothefactthatmostlargeanimalsare quadrupedalandthatnon-humanbipedalanimalsaremostlybirds,whoseprimaryformofloco-motion is flight. Verylittleresearchhasbeenconductedonpenguinpedestrianlocomotionwiththefocus insteadonthei...
Published in: | Journal of Theoretical Biology |
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Main Authors: | , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
HAL CCSD
2015
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-01236737 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.09.019 |
Summary: | International audience Little isknownaboutnon-humanbipedalgaits.Thisisprobablyduetothefactthatmostlargeanimalsare quadrupedalandthatnon-humanbipedalanimalsaremostlybirds,whoseprimaryformofloco-motion is flight. Verylittleresearchhasbeenconductedonpenguinpedestrianlocomotionwiththefocus insteadontheirassociatedhighenergyexpenditure.Inanimals,tri-axialaccelerometersarefre-quentlyusedtoestimatephysiologicalenergycost,aswellastodefine thebehaviourpatternofaspecies,or thekinematicsofswimming.Inthisstudy,weshowedhowanaccelerometer-basedtechniquecouldbe usedtodeterminethebiomechanicalcharacteristicsofpedestrianlocomotion.Eightkingpenguins,which representtheonlyfamilyofbirdstohaveanuprightbipedalgait,weretrainedtowalkonatreadmill. Thetrunktri-axialaccelerationswererecordedwhilethebirdwaswalkingatfourdifferentspeeds (1.0,1.2,1.4and1.6km/h),enablingtheamplitudeofdynamicbodyaccelerationalongthethreeaxes(amplitudeofDBAx, DBAy and DBAz), stridefrequency,waddlingandleaningamplitude,aswellasthe leaningangletobedefined. Themagnitudeofthemeasuredvariablesshowedasignificant increasewith increasingspeed,apartfromthebackwardsangleoflean,whichdecreasedwithincreasingspeed.The variabilityofthemeasuredvariablesalsoshowedasignificant increasewithspeedapartfromtheDBAz amplitude, thewaddlingamplitude,andtheleaningangle,wherenosignificant effectofthewalkingspeedwasfound.Thispaperisthe first approachtodescribe3Dbiomechanicswithanaccel-erometeronwildanimals,demonstratingthepotentialofthistechnique. |
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