`Bright-flaming, heat-full fire, The source of motion.'
Gullaume de Salluste du Bartas
Locomotion is one of the true hallmarks of animal biology. The ability to self-propel the body and move it large distances without reliance on external forces from wind, waves, or currents is an attribute of animals not possessed by other life forms. Animal locomotion is a complex coordinated activity. It is powered by molecular engines manifest as muscular tissue. Motion is effected through the action of sinuous tendons and rigid, levered skeletons that transmit and magnify the muscular force, and the whole system is controlled with precision by complex neural networks.
Locomotion, however, involves more than the physical constructs of the body working against the environment. Locomotion requires the transformations of energy, from chemical to mechanical at the molecular level, with alternations of internal and external kinetic and potential energies. Speed, strength,acceleration, efficiency, stability, and maneuverability are attributes...
