Principles of Animal Locomotion
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How can geckoes walk on the ceiling and basilisk lizards run over water? What are the aerodynamic effects that enable small insects to fly? What are the relative merits of squids' jet-propelled swimming and fishes' tail-powered swimming? Why do horses change gait as they increase speed? What determines our own vertical leap? Recent technical advances have greatly increased researchers' ability to answer these questions with certainty and in detail. This text provides an up-to-date overview of how animals run, walk, jump, crawl, swim, soar, hover, and fly. Excluding only the tiny creatures that use cilia, it covers all animals that power their movements with muscle--from roundworms to whales, clams to elephants, and gnats to albatrosses. The introduction sets out the general rules governing all modes of animal locomotion and considers the performance criteria--such as speed, endurance, and economy--that have shaped their selection. It introduces energetics and optimality as basic principles. The text then tackles each of the major modes by which animals move on land, in water, and through air. It explains the mechanisms involved and the physical and biological forces shaping those mechanisms, paying particular attention to energy costs. Focusing on general principles but extensively discussing a wide variety of individual cases, this is a superb synthesis of current knowledge about animal locomotion. It will be enormously useful to advanced undergraduates, graduate students, a…
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Most components of the ocean sunfish body (e.g., skin, muscle, bone, and intestine) were denser than seawater, as is the case in fishes generally.
“Besides liver, most components of the body (e.g., skin, muscle, bone, and intestine) were denser than seawater as is the case in fishes generally [15].”
From Functional Dorsoventral Symmetry in Relation to Lift-Based Swimming in the Ocean Sunfish Mola mola (2008) · cites this paper as [15]
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“, skin, muscle, bone, and intestine) were denser than seawater as is the case in fishes generally [15].”
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- Authors
- Alexander, R. M.
- Corresponding author
- Alexander, R. McNeill
- Venue
- Princeton University Press eBooks
- Publisher
- Princeton University Press
- Published
- 2002-01-01
- OpenAlex
- W1589503602
- Cited by
- 1,151
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 63 · 2024: 40 · 2023: 42 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 65 · 2020: 51 · 2019: 64 · 2018: 63 · 2017: 56 · 2016: 62 · 2015: 76 · 2014: 62 · 2013: 65 · 2012: 75
- FWCI
- 33.14
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Princeton University Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Biomimetic flight and propulsion mechanisms
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Robotic Locomotion and Control
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Mechanics and Biomechanics Studies
- Keywords
- Animal locomotion, locomotion energetics, locomotion optimization, walking and running, swimming, flight, jumping, gait, geckos, basilisk lizard, insect flight aerodynamics, fish locomotion, speed and endurance
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