Re: chimps on the savanna? Nooooo.....
H. M. Hubey (hubey@pegasus.montclair.edu)
27 Oct 1995 23:39:02 -0400
Alex Duncan <aduncan@mail.utexas.edu> writes:
>larger shaft diameters for the hindlimb skeleton because the entire
>weight of the upper body is being transmitted through the hindlimbs.
Ye of little faith. Learn to read carefully.
If you have a table with 4 legs and the table weights 100 lbs
each leg supports 25 lbs. IF you stand it up on two legs
then each leg supports 50 lbs. If you put the table in water
and the table now weighs say 40 lbs, then each leg (bipedally)
now supports 20 lbs. On the other hand if the table weighed
70 lbs in water, each leg supports 35 lbs.
Get the picture?
>Conversely, if one is transmitting virtually no weight through the
>hindlimbs, because one is standing in water all day, then hindlimb bone
>diameters and joint surface areas should be reduced.
Why? If it also walks on land the bones still have to be
able to support him walking. We also have the problem that
even in water, it might have to support more weight than
when in quad mode. Why should the bones be thinner than
the related quad animal.
--
Regards, Mark
http://www.smns.montclair.edu/~hubey
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