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First published online May 8, 2007
Journal of Experimental Biology 210, 1752-1761 (2007)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2007
doi: 10.1242/jeb.002246

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Effective limb length and the scaling of locomotor cost in terrestrial animals

Herman Pontzer

Washington University, Department of Anthropology, 119 McMillan Hall, St Louis, MO 63130, USA

e-mail: hpontzer{at}artsci.wustl.edu

Accepted 19 February 2007

Relative to body size, smaller animals use more energy to travel a given distance than larger animals, but the anatomical variable driving this negative allometry remains the subject of debate. Here, I report a simple inverse relationship between effective limb length (i.e. hip height) and the energy cost of transport (COT; J kg^–1 m^–1) for terrestrial animals. Using published data for a diverse set of terrestrial species including birds, mammals, reptiles and arthropods, I show that between-species differences in locomotor cost are driven by differences in limb length. Notably, there is no independent effect of body mass on cost. Remarkably, effective limb length explains 98% of the observed variance in locomotor cost across a wide range of terrestrial species including mammals, birds, reptiles and arthropods. Variation about the limb-length/COT scaling relationship is attributable to taxonomic differences in limb design, with birds and arthropods exhibiting greater residuals than mammals. Differences in COT between semi-aquatic, generalist and cursorial species also corresponds to differences in leg length between these groups. These results are discussed in light of previous investigations of the limb length and locomotor cost.

Key words: cost of locomotion, LiMb model, limb length, scaling

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