Subject collection: Comparative biomechanics of movement
- Stepping pattern changes in the caterpillar Manduca sexta: the effects of orientation and substrate
Highlighted Article: The stepping patterns of Manduca sexta (caterpillars) vary with substrate and orientation, indicating that they can detect and respond to the mechanical properties of the environment with which they interact.
- The biomechanics of knuckle-walking: 3-D kinematics of the chimpanzee and macaque wrist, hand and fingers
Highlighted Article: The first 3-D kinematics of the knuckle-walking chimpanzee hand illustrates unique characteristics as well as shared commonalities with digitigrade and palmigrade walking of macaques.
- Keep calm and hang on: EMG activation in the forelimb musculature of three-toed sloths (Bradypus variegatus)
Summary: Three-toed sloths minimize activation of their limb muscles while hanging and appear to offset the cost of force production when walking and climbing by preferentially recruiting large, slow-contracting muscle fibers.
- Morphology and performance of the ‘trap-jaw’ cheliceral strikes in spiders (Araneae, Mecysmaucheniidae)
Highlighted Article: The ultra-fast cheliceral strike of mecysmaucheniid spiders, the fastest documented movement among arachnids, is achieved via shifts in the shape of external structures and shifts in muscle anatomy towards increased specialization.
- Maximum aerodynamic force production by the wandering glider dragonfly (Pantala flavescens, Libellulidae)
Summary: Dragonflies with submaximal loads exhibit unprecedentedly high aerodynamic forces after being dropped in mid-air, descending and then recovering in flight; this behavior represents a new context for evaluating limits to force production by flying animals.
- To walk or to run – a question of movement attractor stability
Summary: In accordance with the dynamical systems theory, lower limb attractor stability is highest at a particular gait mode closest to the corresponding preferred speed.
- Walking with added mass magnifies salient features of human foot energetics
Summary: Walking with added mass altered the force demand under which human legs normally operate, which highlights the versatility of human feet.
- Asymmetrical gait kinematics of free-ranging callitrichine primates in response to changes in substrate diameter and orientation
Summary: Free-ranging callitrichine primates adjust aspects of asymmetrical gait kinematics to promote stability when moving over arboreal substrates varying in diameter and orientation angle.
- Whale sharks increase swimming effort while filter feeding, but appear to maintain high foraging efficiencies
Summary: Tail beat kinematics and foraging behavior of filter feeding whale sharks off the Yucatán Peninsula indicate that stroke effort increases with filter feeding, particularly at the surface.
- Heat dissipation capacity influences reproductive performance in an aerial insectivore
Editors' Choice: Empirical evidence that the ability to dissipate body heat constrains offspring feeding behaviour in a breeding bird, the tree swallow.