... changes in posture, anatomical variation or expertise do not reveal benefits in climbing. Metabolic energy Arboreality Cost of transport Kinematics Locomotion Tetrapod New York Institute of Technology Inclusive Sports and Fitness Validated experimentally using...

...V. David Munteanu; Kelly M. Diamond; Richard W. Blob ABSTRACT Across vertebrate diversity, limb bone morphology is typically expected to reflect differences in the habitats and functional tasks that species utilize. Arboreal vertebrates are often recognized to have longer limbs than terrestrial...

..., highlighting their highly effective locomotor mechanics. This study provides new data on climbing dynamics in a slow-moving arboreal tetrapod and raises new testable hypotheses about how natural selection can act upon a locomotor behavior that is notably constrained by external physical forces...

...Edwin Dickinson; Melody W. Young; Charles J. Kim; Michael Hadjiargyrou; Michael C. Granatosky ABSTRACT The ability to securely grasp substrates of variable diameter is critical to arboreal animals. Arboreal specialists have emerged across several vertebrate lineages – including mammals, lizards...

... in arboreal environments. We quantified the kinematics of their movement over ground and along narrow arboreal trackways to determine the extent to which their locomotion resembled that of primates, occupying similar niches, or basal marsupials from which they evolved. On the ground, the locomotion of koalas...

..., including a range of perch diameters, pervades arboreal habitats. Moving on different substrate diameters requires considerable alteration of body and limb posture, probably causing significant shifts in the lengths of the muscle–tendon units powering locomotion. Thus, how substrate shape impacts in vivo...

...Liza J. Shapiro; Jesse W. Young SUMMARY Arboreal mammals face unique challenges to locomotor stability. This is particularly true with respect to juveniles, who must navigate substrates similar to those traversed by adults, despite a reduced body size and neuromuscular immaturity. Kinematic...