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First published online October 21, 2005
Journal of Experimental Biology 208, 4013-4034 (2005)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2005
doi: 10.1242/jeb.01875

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Ontogenetic development of locomotion in small mammals - a kinematic study

Nadja Schilling

Institut für Spezielle Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Erbertstr. 1, 07743 Jena, Germany

View larger version (126K): [in a new window]   Fig. 1. Frames of video and high-speed cinevideography of mature and youngest individuals of (A) Tupaia glis and (B) Galea musteloides. P0 = day of birth; P34 and P14 = 34 and 14 days after birth, respectively. V, velocity (m s-1).

View larger version (31K): [in a new window]   Fig. 2. Examples of skeletal landmarks used and angles calculated in an adult tree shrew (modified from Schilling and Fischer, 1999).

View larger version (27K): [in a new window]   Fig. 3. Mean horizontal displacement of the limbs of (A) Tupaia glis and (B) Galea musteloides during stance phase. Pivot heights were scaled to the same vertical distance (=100%). Arrows indicate one-pivot-height distance away from the horizontal projection of the pivot's perpendicular. Note the caudal displacement of lift-off position with increasing age and the more consistent touch-down position. Animals are colour coded according to age (see Table 1).

View larger version (75K): [in a new window]   Fig. 4. Mean angular movement of the shoulder, elbow, hip, knee and ankle joint over one step cycle of all individuals of (A) Tupaia glis and (B) Galea musteloides, sorted by body mass. Numbers in parentheses indicate number of steps used. Stance and swing duration were scaled to the same length by linear interpolation: 0% and 100%=touch-down; 50%=lift-off. Note how the monophasic angular movement in the shoulder joint in juvenile tree shrews becomes more and more biphasic during development. The shoulder joint movement of the underweight tree shrew juvenile P39(2) is similar to that of younger individuals. Despite this, the angular movement in the precocial cui is more or less biphasic from birth. Furthermore, note the increasing synchronization of maximum joint extension during stance.

View larger version (36K): [in a new window]   Fig. 5. Mean touch-down and lift-off positions of fore- and hindlimbs of (A) Tupaia glis and (B) Galea musteloides sorted by body mass. Note the constant touch-down position of both fore- and hindlimbs and the increasing retraction of limb segments at lift-off. Also the underweight tree shrew P39(2) is comparable in its kinematic parameters to younger individuals of the same body mass.