Dynamical determinants of different spine movements and gait speeds in rotary and transverse gallops

Quadruped gallop is categorized into two types: rotary and transverse. While the rotary gallop involves two types of flight with different spine movements, the transverse gallop involves only one type of flight. The rotary gallop can achieve faster locomotion than the transverse gallop. To clarify these mechanisms from a dynamic viewpoint, we developed a simple model and derived periodic solutions by focusing on cheetahs and horses. The solutions gave a criterion to determine the flight type: while the ground reaction force does not change the direction of the spine movement for the rotary gallop, it changes for the transverse gallop, which was verified with the help of animal data. Furthermore, the criterion provided the mechanism by which the rotary gallop achieves higher-speed than the transverse gallop based on the flight duration. These findings improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying different gaits that animals use.

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