Locomotion: energy cost of swimming, flying, and running

Author: Schmidt-Nielsen, K.

Description: The energy expended by animals as they swim through water, run on land, and fly in the air in the different kinds of locomotion is not immediately obvious to us. We know that a flying bird must continuously expend energy to keep from falling to the ground, and that in water many animals are neutrally buoyant and expend little effort to keep from sinking, but man has no experience in flying under his own power and he is a clumsy and ineffective swimmer. Walking and running we know more about, for man is our best and most cooperative experimental animal. Except for man and dog running animals have not received much attention, and studies of swimming and flying animals have only recently been carried out at a satisfactory level of success. In this article I shall compare the energy cost of these three kinds of locomotion.

Subject Headings: Animals; Birds; Body Weight; Fishes; Flight, Animal; Insecta; Locomotion; Male; Mammals; Metabolism; Oxygen Consumption; Physical Exertion; Spermatozoa; Swimming

Publication year: 1972

Journal or book title: Science

Volume: 177

Issue: 4045

Pages: 222-228

Find the full text : https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.177.4045.222

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Type: Journal Article

Serial number: 2557