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Researchers discovered that every one 4 of a hippo’s limbs depart the bottom after they trot at excessive speeds.
CNN
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Hippos can get airborne when transferring at excessive speeds over land, based on a brand new research.
That is the primary time that the animals, which might weigh greater than 2,000 kilograms (2.2 tons) and spend a lot of their time in water, have been discovered to raise all 4 limbs off the bottom when transferring rapidly, based on a press release from the Royal Veterinary School (RVC) within the UK.
After analyzing movies exhibiting 169 motion cycles from 32 hippos, researchers discovered that the fastest-moving animals spend round 15% of every stride off the bottom.
John Hutchinson, research lead creator and a professor of evolutionary biomechanics on the RVC, advised CNN that little or no was recognized about the way in which that hippos transfer on land.
“Hippos had been an enormous lacking a part of the puzzle,” he mentioned. “They’re actually exhausting to review.”
Not solely do they spend a number of time in water, they’re “very aggressive and harmful” and are extra energetic at evening, mentioned Hutchinson.
Within the movies studied by researchers, hippos tended to maneuver quick when one thing motivated them, corresponding to chasing a rival hippo or being chased by lions or rhinos, he mentioned.
The workforce additionally discovered that hippos nearly solely trot – with two diagonal limbs transferring in the identical route on the identical time, after which the 2 different diagonal limbs – it doesn’t matter what velocity they’re transferring at, whereas different mammals corresponding to horses change from a stroll to a trot to a gallop relying on their velocity.
“Hippos are one of many only a few 4 legged animals in any respect that simply trot,” mentioned Hutchinson. “That was a fairly neat discovering.”
The outcomes might assist inform the way in which that hippos are stored in captivity, in addition to serving to to detect and monitor whether or not hippos are struggling bodily points, mentioned Huntchinson.
One pattern video that confirmed a child pygmy hippo galloping has supplied Hutchinson with a leaping off level for future analysis, he mentioned, including he desires to research whether or not small hippos, corresponding to child hippos and child pygmy hippos, are in a position to gallop however lose this skill after they develop.
The research was printed Wednesday within the journal PeerJ.