A MECHANICAL TRIGGER FOR THE TROT-GALLOP TRANSITION IN HORSES
A MECHANICAL TRIGGER FOR THE TROT-GALLOP TRANSITION IN HORSES
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DOI：
10.1126/science.1857965
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发表时间：
1991-07-19
期刊：
影响因子：
56.9
通讯作者：
TAYLOR, CR
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
FARLEY, CT;TAYLOR, CR
人们普遍认为，动物以最小化能量消耗的速度转换步态。马自然地从小跑切换到疾驰，在这种速度下，疾驰需要比小跑更多的能量，因此，步态转换实际上增加了跑步的能量消耗。然而，通过以这种速度奔跑，肌肉，肌腱和骨骼上的峰值力量以及受伤的可能性都降低了。当马匹负重时，它们会从小跑转变为以较低的速度奔跑，但力量的临界水平相同。这些研究结果表明，当肌肉骨骼力量达到临界水平时，会触发小跑-奔马过渡。
It is widely thought that animals switch gaits at speeds that minimize energetic cost. Horses naturally switched from a trot to a gallop at a speed where galloping required more energy than trotting, and thus, the gait transition actually increased the energetic cost of running. However, by galloping at this speed, the peak forces on the muscles, tendons, and bones, and presumably the chance of injury, are reduced. When the horses carried weights, they switched from a trot to a gallop at a lower speed but at the same critical level of force. These findings suggest that the trot-gallop transition is triggered when musculoskeletal forces reach a critical level.