Saturday, 2 February 2013

Camels: walk, trot or pace?




Did you know that Camels is the only animal (together with some horses) that moves the two feet on the same side of the body together? This type of walking is called pace. There are other types of gaits too:

1. Walk - a four-beat gait that averages about 4 miles per hour (6.4 km/h). When walking, an animal's legs follow this sequence: left hind leg, left front leg, right hind leg, right front leg, in a regular 1-2-3-4 beat.
2. Trot - The trot is a two-beat gait that has a wide variation in possible speeds, but averages about 8 miles per hour (13 km/h). In this gait, the horse moves its legs in unison in diagonal pairs. From the standpoint of the balance of the horse, this is a very stable gait, and the horse need not make major balancing motions with its head and neck.
3. Pace - a lateral two-beat gait. In the pace, the two legs on the same side of the animal move forward together, unlike the trot, where the two legs diagonally opposite from each other move forward together. In both the pace and the trot, two feet are always off the ground.

That is why we feel so weird when we ride a Camel (if you have ever tried it!).

It is really interesting to read a few things on that matter regarding gait analysis and biomechanics in this article.

1 comment:

  1. My deerhound lurcher has that pace when she's extended walking too. It's quite strange to watch. My other do doesn't.

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