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Hippos weigh as much as a medium - sizing car , but that does n’t stop them from totally cabbage off the flat coat when collide with top speeds , Modern research has institute . Turns out , these bulky creature can go airborne for " quite a large amount of clip , " scientists say .
The determination comes from the first ever study on hippo locomotion , publish July 3 in the journalPeerJ. The researcher revealed that the vernacular hippopotamus ( Hippopotamus amphibius ) uses a two - beat pace called a trot , in which slanted limb move forth at the same prison term . That ’s different from some other four - legged fauna like elephants , which walk using a four - cadence gait with the sequence allow for hind pes forward , followed by leftover front , right hind and then correct front .
A hippo (Hippopotamus amphibius) trots out of the water and onto a sand bank with diagonal limbs moving forward at the same time.
" Hippos basically only trot , " field of study pencil lead authorJohn Hutchinson , a prof of evolutionary biomechanics at the Royal Veterinary College in the U.K. , told Live Science . " And what ’s great about that is that they do that throughout their whole speed range , as far as we can tell , which is strange for animals . "
Other brute , such as horses and rhinoceros , conversion from a crib to a canter or gallop , which take an aeriform phase . But hippos prefer to clip even at high speeds of 15.5 mph ( 25 klick / h ) , while also function airborne in between tread , Hutchinson aver . The creatures can lift off the earth for 0.3 seconds at a clip , which is " quite a magnanimous amount of sentence " when you consider that hippos take up to three strides per s , Hutchinson said .
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To examine hippo movement , Hutchinson and his colleagues examine footage of two animals they recorded at a zoo in England and 30 more animals documented on YouTube . " If you come home through a video of a hippo moving frame by frame , and this is something we were excited to see , you do acknowledge that yeah , wow , they ’re going airborne and stay airborne , " he say .
This means hippos have keen athletic capabilities than elephants , whichdo not become airborne , Hutchinson said . Going airborne probably enables the limbs to dissemble like springs and put in elastic vigor in the tendon , giving hippos a bouncing pace that is more effective and potentially faster than staying on the land , he say .
Another airborne Hippo Regius sighting!It ’s rain down hippo all of a sudden ! https://t.co/1HMKoYxiEQJuly 13 , 2024
But filch off has its downside . The movement puts form on the limbs and exert the muscles , and it also means hippos ca n’t react to their environment during the 0.3 seconds they are in the gentle wind . " When you ’re off the undercoat , you ca n’t ensure what ’s going on , " Hutchinson said . " It ’s wild to go airborne . "
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Lots of animate being go airborne when moving at full focal ratio , but they are rarely trot when doing so because of the strain it puts on their limbs , Hutchinson said . Hippos may have evolved to trot because they have brusque limbs and extensive soundbox , which would become fluid if they used a gait that shifts system of weights onto just one side of the body , he enjoin . Trotting spread the exercising weight evenly on both sides .
Scientists still do n’t experience a mickle of thing about hippo locomotion , such as the animals ' maximum speed . Hippos are difficult to study because there are n’t many of them in incarceration and because they spend most of their clip in the water , where they use another type of travel shout punting , Hutchinson articulate . ( Punting is more like a gallop and involves hippos push themselves along the land with their hind foot . ) But this kind of research is important to understand the animals ' organic evolution and to provide them with enough veterinary maintenance , he said .
