enlist cursorial adaptations in desert animals
Answer (1)
26th Jan, 2021
Hello aspirant
Adaptations for cursorial locomotion in terrestrial vertebrates include:
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Increased stride length by:
- Increased limb bone length
- Adoption of digitigrade or unguligrade stance
- Loss of clavicle in mammals, which allows the scapula to move forwards and backwards with the limb and thereby increase stride length.
- Increased spinal flexion during galloping
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Decreased distal limb weight (in order to minimize moment of inertia
- Increase in mass of proximal muscles with decrease in mass of distal muscles
- Increase in length of distal limb bones (the manus and pes) rather than proximal ones (the brachium or thigh).
- Longer tendons in distal limb
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