Scientists on the Royal Veterinary School in North Mymms, Hertfordshire, have made a discovery: hippos, in spite of their hefty dimension, can in brief grow to be airborne.
This revelation got here after in depth video research of hippos in movement, performed via evolutionary biomechanics professor John Hutchinson and his staff.
The analysis staff carefully tested photos of hippos working, together with movies shot via pupil Emily Pringle at Flamingo Land lodge in North Yorkshire.
They discovered that hippos, when achieving best speeds, controlled to boost all 4 ft off the bottom concurrently as much as 15% of the time.
This surprising discovering puts hippos between elephants and rhinos in relation to their athletic skills.
In contrast to elephants, which by no means depart the bottom, and rhinos, which is able to gallop, hippos usually trot, transferring diagonally reverse legs in combination.
Hutchinson’s paintings sheds mild at the biomechanics of enormous land animals and their evolutionary locomotion.
Whilst the learn about concerned tedious frame-by-frame video research, it opened new questions on hippo conduct.
Significantly, there’s interest about whether or not pygmy hippos or child hippos would possibly show off other locomotive skills, doubtlessly resulting in long term analysis.
This article via Trinity Sparke was once first printed via One Inexperienced Planet on 7 July 2024. Symbol Credit score :Radek Borovka/Shutterstock.
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