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Investigation of feet functions of large ruminants with a decoupled model of equivalent mechanism

Cloven hooves of ruminants adapt to diverse terrain, provide propulsive force and support the whole body during movement in natural environments. To reveal how the feet ensure terrain adaptability by choosing the proper configurations and terrain conditions, we model the feet of ruminants as an equi...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Zhang, Qun, Xu, Kun, Ding, Xilun
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Company of Biologists Ltd 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5399556/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28412713
http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/bio.023630
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author Zhang, Qun
Xu, Kun
Ding, Xilun
author_facet Zhang, Qun
Xu, Kun
Ding, Xilun
author_sort Zhang, Qun
collection PubMed
description Cloven hooves of ruminants adapt to diverse terrain, provide propulsive force and support the whole body during movement in natural environments. To reveal how the feet ensure terrain adaptability by choosing the proper configurations and terrain conditions, we model the feet of ruminants as an equivalent mechanism with flexion-extension and lateral movement decoupled. The upper part of the equivalent mechanism can flex and extend, while the lower part performs the lateral movement. Combination of the two parts can adapt to longitudinal slope (anterior-posterior) and transverse slope (medial-lateral), respectively. When one of two digits closes laterally, the workspace of the other decreases. The distal interdigital ligament between two digits limits their motion by elastic force and stores energy during movement. Differences in elastic energy variation of the ligament on different transverse slopes are characterized based on the configurations of two digits and the elastic energy between them. If the upper one of two symmetric digits is fixed, the foot landing on the grade surface (2°) shows greater capacity for absorbing energy; otherwise, level ground is the best choice for ruminants. As for the asymmetric digits, longer lateral digits enhance the optimal adaptive lateral angle. The asymmetry predisposes the feet to damage on the hard ground, which indicates soft ground is more suitable.
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spelling pubmed-53995562017-05-02 Investigation of feet functions of large ruminants with a decoupled model of equivalent mechanism Zhang, Qun Xu, Kun Ding, Xilun Biol Open Research Article Cloven hooves of ruminants adapt to diverse terrain, provide propulsive force and support the whole body during movement in natural environments. To reveal how the feet ensure terrain adaptability by choosing the proper configurations and terrain conditions, we model the feet of ruminants as an equivalent mechanism with flexion-extension and lateral movement decoupled. The upper part of the equivalent mechanism can flex and extend, while the lower part performs the lateral movement. Combination of the two parts can adapt to longitudinal slope (anterior-posterior) and transverse slope (medial-lateral), respectively. When one of two digits closes laterally, the workspace of the other decreases. The distal interdigital ligament between two digits limits their motion by elastic force and stores energy during movement. Differences in elastic energy variation of the ligament on different transverse slopes are characterized based on the configurations of two digits and the elastic energy between them. If the upper one of two symmetric digits is fixed, the foot landing on the grade surface (2°) shows greater capacity for absorbing energy; otherwise, level ground is the best choice for ruminants. As for the asymmetric digits, longer lateral digits enhance the optimal adaptive lateral angle. The asymmetry predisposes the feet to damage on the hard ground, which indicates soft ground is more suitable. The Company of Biologists Ltd 2017-04-15 /pmc/articles/PMC5399556/ /pubmed/28412713 http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/bio.023630 Text en © 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed.
spellingShingle Research Article
Zhang, Qun
Xu, Kun
Ding, Xilun
Investigation of feet functions of large ruminants with a decoupled model of equivalent mechanism
title Investigation of feet functions of large ruminants with a decoupled model of equivalent mechanism
title_full Investigation of feet functions of large ruminants with a decoupled model of equivalent mechanism
title_fullStr Investigation of feet functions of large ruminants with a decoupled model of equivalent mechanism
title_full_unstemmed Investigation of feet functions of large ruminants with a decoupled model of equivalent mechanism
title_short Investigation of feet functions of large ruminants with a decoupled model of equivalent mechanism
title_sort investigation of feet functions of large ruminants with a decoupled model of equivalent mechanism
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5399556/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28412713
http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/bio.023630
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