Intraspecific scaling of the minimum metabolic cost of transport in leghorn chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus): links with limb kinematics, morphometrics and posture

The minimum metabolic cost of transport (CoT(min); J kg(−1) m(−1)) scales negatively with increasing body mass (∝M(b)(−1/3)) across species from a wide range of taxa associated with marked differences in body plan. At the intraspecific level, or between closely related species, however, CoT(min) does not always scale with M(b). Similarity in physiology, dynamics of movement, skeletal geometry and posture between closely related individuals is thought to be responsible for this phenomenon, despite the fact that energetic, kinematic and morphometric data are rarely collected together. We examined the relationship between these integrated components of locomotion in leghorn chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) selectively bred for large and bantam (miniature) varieties. Interspecific allometry predicts a CoT(min) ∼16% greater in bantams compared with the larger variety. However, despite 38% and 23% differences in M(b) and leg length, respectively, the two varieties shared an identical walking CoT(min), independent of speed and equal to the allometric prediction derived from interspecific data for the larger variety. Furthermore, the two varieties moved with dynamic similarity and shared geometrically similar appendicular and axial skeletons. Hip height, however, did not scale geometrically and the smaller variety had more erect limbs, contrary to interspecific scaling trends. The lower than predicted CoT(min) in bantams for their M(b) was associated with both the more erect posture and a lower cost per stride (J kg(−1) stride(−1)). Therefore, our findings are consistent with the notion that a more erect limb is associated with a lower CoT(min) and with the previous assumption that similarity in skeletal shape, inherently linked to walking dynamics, is associated with similarity in CoT(min).