ArticleBiology letters2020
Why are the fastest runners of intermediate size? Contrasting scaling of mechanical demands and muscle supply of work and power.
Article in Biology letters, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- Reconstructing dinosaur locomotion.Biology letters · 2025Review
- Beyond power limits: the kinetic energy capacity of skeletal muscle.The Journal of experimental biology · 2024Review
- Predictive musculoskeletal simulations reveal the mechanistic link between speed, posture and energetics among extant mammals.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Muscle-Driven Predictive Physics Simulations of Quadrupedal Locomotion in the Horse.Integrative and comparative biology · 2024Article
- The functions of leg muscles, structures and mechanisms in running.Biology letters · 2024Article
- The effect of muscle ultrastructure on the force, displacement and work capacity of skeletal muscle.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2024Article
- Dynamic similarity and the peculiar allometry of maximum running speed.Nature communications · 2024Article
- A theory of physiological similarity in muscle-driven motion.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Low effective mechanical advantage of giraffes' limbs during walking reveals trade-off between limb length and locomotor performance.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Muscle Actuators, Not Springs, Drive Maximal Effort Human Locomotor Performance.Journal of sports science & medicine · 2021Article
- The evolutionary biomechanics of locomotor function in giant land animals.The Journal of experimental biology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The fastest land animals are of intermediate size. Cheetah, antelope, greyhounds and racehorses have been measured running much faster than reported for elephants or elephant shrews. Can this be attributed to scaling of physical demands and explicit physiological constraints to supply? Here, we describe the scaling of mechanical work demand each stride, and the mechanical power demand each stance. Unlike muscle stress, strain and strain rate, these mechanical demands cannot be circumvented by changing the muscle gearing with minor adaptations in bone geometry or trivial adjustments to limb posture. Constraints to the capacity of muscle to supply work and power impose fundamental limitations to maximum speed. Given an upper limit to muscle work capacity each contraction, maximum speeds in big animals are constrained by the mechanical work demand each step. With an upper limit to instantaneous muscle power production, maximal speeds in small animals are limited by the high power demands during brief stance periods. The high maximum speed of the cheetah may therefore be attributed as much to its size as to its other anatomical and physiological adaptations.
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