Variation in walking gaits in ungulates, part 2: the moose walks like the pygmy hippo, while warthogs walk like giraffes

@paradoxornithidae @matthewinabinett @beartracker @tandala @oviscanadensis_connerties @elliotgreiner @dejong @muir @maxallen @aguilita @jwidness @ptexis @christiaan_viljoen @mhughes26

...continued from https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/milewski/85161-variation-in-walking-gaits-in-ungulates-why-some-hoofed-mammals-cross-walk-whereas-others-amble-part-1#

Please see https://www.facebook.com/NaturalBridgeWildlifeRanch/videos/unique-giraffide-including-their-cousins-the-okapi-have-a-very-unique-gait-or-wa/10153423194821160/

Two salient findings emerge from part 1 of this Post. Neither has, as far as I know, been pointed out in the previous literature on gaits (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2907.1973.tb00179.x and https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1968.tb03031.x and https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/handle/10012/14529).

The surprises are as follows:

Firstly, the moose (Alces alces, https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/522193-Alces-alces) and the pygmy hippo (Hexaprotodon liberiensis, https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/74192-Choeropsis-liberiensis) share the same walking gait, despite their great differences in body shape, particularly the proportional lengths of the legs.

In both cases, the gait is a semi cross-walk.

Secondly, the common warthog (Phacochoerus africanus, https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/42122-Phacochoerus-africanus) and giraffes (Giraffa) share the same walking gait, despite their great differences in body size and shape, particularly the proportional lengths of the legs (https://dissolve.com/video/Locked-off-shot-two-warthog-eating-rights-managed-stock-video-footage/002-D118-68-503 and https://www.theatlantic.com/personal/archive/2013/04/friday-fauna-3-tall-giraffes-and-1-short-warthog/274723/ and https://www.travelblog.org/Photos/2106756 and https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/giraffe-oryx-warthog-species-diversity-at-a-waterhole-in-the-etosha-national-park-gm647776896-117801181).

In both cases, the gait is an amble.

The following illustrates the difference between the semi cross-walk of the common eland and the amble of giraffes.

Please focus on the limbs on the far side of the figure.

In the common eland (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/182080028), the fore hoof lifts only when the hind hoof is placed right behind it.

By contrast, in giraffes (https://unsplash.com/photos/4NxLCYwza6g and https://classroomclipart.com/image/photo/reticulated-giraffes-walking-in-grasslands-kenya-picture-38-42926.htm), the fore hoof has already lifted by the time that the hind hoof approaches it.

This difference is not just the result of giraffes having long legs. Warthogs (https://www.alamy.com/southern-warthog-phacochoerus-africanus-sundevallii-side-view-of-an-adult-walking-on-the-ground-mpumalanga-south-africa-image354035050.html?imageid=02D8ECD0-F02C-4C14-BB66-E8696810999C&p=240867&pn=1&searchId=50bc9da712002d08dc43c752e0d32504&searchtype=0) have legs proportionately shorter than those of the common eland, yet the fore hoof has already lifted by the time that the hind hoof approaches it.

The fact that warthogs - the shortest-legged of the 'plains game' of Africa - walk like giraffes has never, as far as I know, been pointed out before.

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/giraffe-warthog-drinking-together-waterhole-1184950966

These findings are noteworthy, because

it is easy to assume that the amble of giraffes is a function of their long legs (https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/article-abstract/41/2/282/933378?login=false),
the moose is by far the longest-legged of deer, and
all other suids, plus peccaries (https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/javelina-aka-wild-skunk-pig-peccary-1171187206 and scroll to 9th photo in https://a-z-animals.com/animals/collared-peccary/pictures/ and https://www.freeimages.com/photo/javelina-walking-1337436), cross-walk.

An additional surprise is that Okapia differs from Giraffa in its walking gait - a point missed by Anne Innis Dagg despite her close scrutiny of both genera. Please see comment below, titled OKAPIA JOHNSTONI.

Posted on Οκτώβριος 13, 2023 0801 ΜΜ by

milewski

Variation in walking gaits in ungulates, part 2: the moose walks like the pygmy hippo, while warthogs walk like giraffes

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