Access
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
Brief Communications
Nature 434, 292 (17 March 2005) | doi:10.1038/434292a; Published online 16 March 2005
Open Innovation Challenges
- More Challenges
- Powered by:
nature jobs
Carbohydrate Chemistry
- Praj Matrix - Praj Industries Ltd
- Pune, Maharashtra Pune-411021 India
Post Doctoral Research Assistant
- University of Bedfordshire
- Bedford, UK
Biomechanics: Independent evolution of running in vampire bats
Daniel K. Riskin1 & John W. Hermanson1
Abstract
Most tetrapods have retained terrestrial locomotion since it evolved in the Palaeozoic era1, 2, but bats have become so specialized for flight that they have almost lost the ability to manoeuvre on land at all3, 4. Vampire bats, which sneak up on their prey along the ground, are an important exception. Here we show that common vampire bats can also run by using a unique bounding gait, in which the forelimbs instead of the hindlimbs are recruited for force production as the wings are much more powerful than the legs. This ability to run seems to have evolved independently within the bat lineage.
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
RESEARCH
Plasminogen Activator in Saliva of the Vampire Bat Desmodus rotundusNature Letters to Editor (23 Jul 1966)
Reciprocal food sharing in the vampire batNature Letters to Editor (08 Mar 1984)
