Forelimbs-Ribcage As Slingshot
October 15, 2021
Slingshot-like mechanism in a quadrupeds' locomotion
What’s Behind a Quadrupeds’ Run?
Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, unlike the running of us the bipeds, the running of the quadrupeds functions in a vastly different mechanism, where the forelimbs (1), AND the deep pectoral muscles (2), AND the sheer weight of the ribcage (3), all in conjunction works like what you can imagine of how a slingshot works – per the illuminating text by professor Gottfried Bammes.
This knowledge might come into especially handy when we depict animals in motion, or when we simulate the muscles involved in a run.