Scaling of energetic cost of running to body size in mammals.

TAYLOR, C. RICHARD, KNUT SCHMIDT-NIELSEN, AND JACOB L. RAAB, Scaling of energetic cost of running to body size in mammals. Am. J. Physiol. 219(4) : 1104-l 107. 1970.-The purpose of this study was to see if a convenient relationship could be found between the energetic cost of running and the body weight of mammals. We found that steady-state oxygen consumption of seven groups of mammals (21 g-18 kg) increased almost linearly with running speed. Oxygen consumption (M, ml 02 g-l hr-l) relative to running velocity (V, km hr-l) could be expressed by linear equations: