Box and whisker plot showing the interquartile range (IQR; grey box) and median (white line) of jump angle data for n=50 trials pooled over four animals (different colours). Low jumps (squares) fall below the median whereas high jumps (triangles) are above 1.5×IQR. The remaining represent intermediate jumps (circles).

Three-dimensional leg kinematics from an example jump. (A) Three-dimensional view and rear view (inset) schematic showing kinematics from five key frames of an example jump. The black spheres are skin marker landmarks for the right leg and body (red), mirrored for the left (grey). Subsequent frames show right leg only, offset in space for clarity. Shaded areas are hip and ankle ‘3D extension angles’ with their respective rotation axes (blue lines), similarly labelled for the rear view (inset). For illustration, axes lengths are scaled to snout–vent length. The knee axis (dashed) is omitted from the 3D view for clarity. Note the reorientation of rotation axes as they align at the final frame. (B) Three-dimensional angles for sacroiliac (SI; green), hip (black), knee (red), ankle (blue) and TMT (orange) from the example trial in A. Note that the sacroiliac joint is not depicted in the illustrations, but is represented as a rotation axis in the horizontal plane (green, dashed line).

Translational and rotational COM velocity (see Materials and methods). Resultant (black), horizontal (red) and vertical (grey) translational velocity components are shown for low (A), intermediate (B) and high angle jumps (C), and similarly for rotational velocity (D–F), where positive versus negative values indicate pitching upwards versus downwards, respectively. Time is relative to contact time (t_c; see Materials and methods). Data are means±s.d. for n=50 trials pooled over four animals.

Leg segment kinematics across a range of jump angles. Limb segment protraction–retraction angles for the low, intermediate and high angle jumps (A–C, respectively) and abduction–adduction angles (D–F, respectively). Traces are for thigh (black), shank (red) and proximal foot (blue). The black dashed line (A–C) represents a line drawn posterior from the hip joint from which protraction–retraction angles were referenced (see Fig. 1). Trending towards the line (arrows) denotes retraction. The x-axis (D–F) represents the horizontal axis. Downward slopes indicate adduction. Time is relative to contact time (t_c; see Materials and methods). Data are means±s.d. for n=50 trials pooled over four animals.

Joint rotation axis orientations across a range of jump angles. Orientations of hip (black), knee (red) and ankle (blue) axes of rotation for low (A), intermediate (B) and high angle jumps (C). Angles are drawn with respect to the horizontal plane such that 0 deg is horizontal and 90 deg is vertical, indicating pure adduction/abduction or retraction/protraction, respectively. Time is relative to contact time (t_c; see Materials and methods). Data are means±s.d. for n=50 trials pooled over four animals.