Limb preference in the gallop of dogs and the half-bound of pikas on flat ground

Abstract

During fast locomotion—gallop, half-bound, bound—of quadruped mammals, the ground contact of the limbs in each pair does not alternate symmetrically. Animals using such asymmetrical gait thus choose whether the left or the right limb will contact the ground first, and this gives rise to limb preference. Here, we report that dogs (Mammalia, Carnivora) and pikas (Mammalia, Lagomorpha) prefer one forelimb as trailing limb and use it as such almost twice as often as the other. We also show that this choice depends on the individual and is not a characteristic of the species, and that the strength of the preference was not dependent on the animal's running speed.

Acknowledgements

Observations of pikas were funded by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) at the college of innovation “Motion Systems” at the Institute of Systematic Zoology of the University of Iena. Observations of dogs were funded by the French ANR (Agence Nationale pour la Recherche) as part of the LOCOMO project (ANR 06 BLAN 0132-02). We are indebted to Dr Alain Puget (IPBS), Toulouse, for providing us with pikas and to the 132e BCAT of the French Army for its collaboration in the study; in particular we thank Lt-Cl Deuwel, Cdt Lamour, Cpl-Chs. Séné, Grardel, Debiasi, and Lievens, 1st Cls. Noroy, Baron, and Baud.