Jan 31, 2015
There is a wonderful body of data available on the limb frequencies of creatures, large and small, walking, trotting, and cantering in the Serengeti (Pennycuick, 1975). The amazing feature of these data from my perspective is that the frequencies of all of the observed four-legged animals fall on three straight lines when plotted against limb length or limb mass. There is one line for walking, one for trotting, and one for cantering. Despite differences in body size (from 20 kg to 6,ooo kg) and body form (e.g., gazelle vs. elephant), there is a sameness.
Michael Turvey in Coordination, p. 947