Mixed gaits in small avian terrestrial locomotion
Mixed gaits in small avian terrestrial locomotion
复制标题
DOI：
10.1038/srep13636
复制
发表时间：
2015-09-03
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Blickhan, Reinhard
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Andrada, Emanuel;Haase, Daniel;Blickhan, Reinhard
科学家们在历史上对步态进行了分类（例如，步行，跑步等常规步态）。然而，先前的研究结果表明，鸟类等动物可能会混合或定期或随机地在步态之间切换，同时保持稳定的运动速度。在这里，我们结合了一个新的和完全自动化的大规模研究（超过一百万帧）的运动的质心在几种鸟类（鹌鹑，牡蛎捕手，北方麦鸡，鸽子，和鳄梨）的数值模拟。研究的鸟类并不严格地喜欢低速行走或高速奔跑。此外，我们的研究结果清楚地表明，我们研究中的鸟类采用混合步态（例如一步步行，然后使用跑步力学）比步行更频繁，令人惊讶的是，可能与地面跑步一样频繁。利用从真实的鹌鹑获得的参数的生物启发模型，我们发现了两种类型的稳定的混合步态。在第一种情况下，两条腿表现出不同的步态力学，而在第二种情况下，腿逐渐从一种步态力学交替到另一种步态力学。有趣的是，混合步态的参数大多与地面跑步的参数重叠。因此，状态的扰动或变化引起从接地跑步到混合步态的切换，反之亦然。
Scientists have historically categorized gaits discretely (e.g. regular gaits such as walking, running). However, previous results suggest that animals such as birds might mix or regularly or stochastically switch between gaits while maintaining a steady locomotor speed. Here, we combined a novel and completely automated large-scale study (over one million frames) on motions of the center of mass in several bird species (quail, oystercatcher, northern lapwing, pigeon, and avocet) with numerical simulations. The birds studied do not strictly prefer walking mechanics at lower speeds or running mechanics at higher speeds. Moreover, our results clearly display that the birds in our study employ mixed gaits (such as one step walking followed by one step using running mechanics) more often than walking and, surprisingly, maybe as often as grounded running. Using a bio-inspired model based on parameters obtained from real quails, we found two types of stable mixed gaits. In the first, both legs exhibit different gait mechanics, whereas in the second, legs gradually alternate from one gait mechanics into the other. Interestingly, mixed gaits parameters mostly overlap those of grounded running. Thus, perturbations or changes in the state induce a switch from grounded running to mixed gaits or vice versa.