The Lawrence Jacobsen Library
Books Received (Primate-Science/PrimateLit)

By R. McNeill Alexander

Princeton University Press


FROM THE PUBLISHER

How can geckoes walk on the ceiling and basilisk lizards run over water? What 
are the aerodynamic effects that enable small insects to fly? What are the 
relative merits of squids' jet-propelled swimming and fishes' tail-powered 
swimming? Why do horses change gait as they increase speed? What determines 
our own vertical leap? Recent technical advances have greatly increased 
researchers' ability to answer these questions with certainty and in detail.

This text provides an up-to-date overview of how animals run, walk, jump, 
crawl, swim, soar, hover, and fly. Excluding only the tiny creatures that 
use cilia, it covers all animals that power their movements with muscle--from 
roundworms to whales, clams to elephants, and gnats to albatrosses. The 
introduction sets out the general rules governing all modes of animal locomotion 
and considers the performance criteria--such as speed, endurance, and economy--that 
have shaped their selection. It introduces energetics and optimality as basic 
principles. The text then tackles each of the major modes by which animals move 
on land, in water, and through air. It explains the mechanisms involved and the 
physical and biological forces shaping those mechanisms, paying particular 
attention to energy costs.

Focusing on general principles but extensively discussing a wide variety of 
individual cases, this is a superb synthesis of current knowledge about animal 
locomotion. It will be enormously useful to advanced undergraduates, graduate 
students, and a range of professional biologists, physicists, and engineers.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

R. McNeill Alexander is Emeritus Professor of Zoology at the University of 
Leeds and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He is the author of more than a dozen 
books, including Optima for Animals (Princeton), as well as the award-winning 
CD-ROM How Animals Move.


TABLE OF CONTENTS



PREFACE ix



Chapter 1: The Best Way to Travel 1

1.1. Fitness 1
1.2. Speed 2
1.3. Acceleration and Maneuverability 2
1.4. Endurance 4
1.5. Economy of Energy 7
1.6. Stability 8
1.7. Compromises 9
1.8. Constraints 9
1.9. Optimization Theory 10
1.10. Gaits 12

Chapter 2: Muscle, the Motor 15

2.1. How Muscles Exert Force 15
2.2. Shortening and Lengthening Muscle 22
2.3. Power Output of Muscles 26
2.4. Pennation Patterns and Moment Arms 28
2.5. Power Consumption 31
2.6. Some Other Types of Muscle 34

Chapter 3: Energy Requirements for Locomotion 38

3.1. Kinetic Energy 38
3.2. Gravitational Potential Energy 39
3.3. Elastic Strain Energy 40
3.4. Work That Does Not Increase the Body's Mechanical Energy 42
3.5. Work Requirements 46
3.6. Oscillatory Movements 48

Chapter 4: Consequences of Size Differences 53

4.1. Geometric Similarity, Allometry, and the Pace of Life 53
4.2. Dynamic Similarity 58
4.3. Elastic Similarity and Stress Similarity 60

Chapter 5: Methods for the Study of Locomotion 68

5.1. Cinematography and Video Recording 68
5.2. Stationary Locomotion 70
5.3. Measurement of Energy Consumption 73
5.4. Observing Flow 74
5.5. Forces and Pressures 76
5.6. Recording Muscle Action 80
5.7. Recording Movement at a Distance 83
5.8. Properties of Materials 84

Chapter 6: Alternative Techniques for Locomotion on Land 86

6.1. Two-Anchor Crawling 86
6.2. Crawling by Peristalsis 88
6.3. Serpentine Crawling 90
6.4. Froglike Hopping 91
6.5. An Inelastic Kangaroo 93
6.6. A Minimal Model of Walking 95
6.7. The Synthetic Wheel 97
6.8. Walkers with Heavy Legs 98
6.9. Spring-Mass Models of Running 99
6.10. Comparisons 100

Chapter 7: Walking, Running, and Hopping 103

7.1. Speed 103
7.2. Gaits 109
7.3. Forces and Energy 114
7.4. Energy-Saving Springs 122
7.5. Internal Kinetic Energy 125
7.6. Metabolic Cost of Transport 128
7.7. Prediction of Optimal Gaits 133
7.8. Soft Ground, Hills, and Loads 136
7.9. Stability 139
7.10. Maneuverability 143

Chapter 8: Climbing and Jumping 146

8.1. Standing Jumps 146
8.2. Leg Design and Jumping Technique 150
8.3. Size and Jumping 153
8.4. Jumping from Branches 155
8.5. Climbing Vertical Surfaces and Walking on the Ceiling 159

Chapter 9: Crawling and Burrowing 166

9.1. Worms 166
9.2. Insect Larvae 170
9.3. Molluscs 171
9.4. Reptiles 176
9.5. Mammals 179

Chapter 10: Gliding and Soaring 181

10.1. Drag 181
10.2. Lift 183
10.3. Drag on Aerofoils 187
10.4. Gliding Performance 192
10.5. Stability 200
10.6. Soaring 201

Chapter 11: Hovering 209

11.1. Airflow around Hovering Animals 209
11.2. Lift Generation 213
11.3. Power for Hovering 221

Chapter 12: Powered Forward Flight 224

12.1. Aerodynamics of Flapping Flight 224
12.2. Power Requirements for Flight 228
12.3. Optimization of Flight 236

Chapter 13: Moving on the Surface of Water 240

13.1. Fisher Spiders 240
13.2. Basilisk Lizards 244
13.3. Surface Swimmers 246

Chapter 14: Swimming with Oars and Hydrofoils 249

14.1. Froude Efficiency 249
14.2. Drag-Powered Swimming 250
14.3. Swimming Powered by Lift on Limbs or Paired Fins 255
14.4. Swimming with Hydrofoil Tails 261
14.5. Porpoising 264

Chapter 15: Swimming by Undulation 266

15.1. Undulating Fishes 266
15.2. Muscle Activity in Undulating Fishes 277
15.3. Fins, Tails, and Gaits 282
15.4. Undulating Worms 284

Chapter 16: Swimming by Jet Propulsion 288

16.1. Efficiency of Jet Propulsion 288
16.2. Elastic Mechanisms in Jet Propulsion 296

Chapter 17: Buoyancy 301

17.1. Buoyancy Organs 301
17.2. Swimming by Dense Animals 303
17.3. Energetics of Buoyancy 307
17.4. Buoyancy and Lifestyle 311

Chapter 18: Aids to Human Locomotion 316

18.1. Shoes 316
18.2. Bicycles 318
18.3. Scuba 321
18.4. Boats 322
18.5. Aircraft without Engines 324

Chapter 19: Epilogue 327

19.1. Metabolic Cost of Transport 327
19.2. Speeds 328
19.3. Gaits 330
19.4. Elastic Mechanisms 331
19.5. Priorities for Further Research 331



REFERENCES 333


INDEX 367



WHERE TO ORDER

ISBN number 0-691-12634-8/ 0-691-08678-8 (Paper, $39.50/Cloth, $55.00)

Princeton University Press

41 William Street

Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.A. 08540

Website: http://www.pupress.princeton.edu/

Direct link to online order form: http://www.pupress.princeton.edu/titles/7435.html






Posted Date: 4/18/06