Department of Biology, University of Akron, Akron 44325, USA.
Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, University of California, Riverside 92521, USA.
Biol Open. 2023 Nov 15;12(11). doi: 10.1242/bio.060146. Epub 2023 Nov 10.
For terrestrial locomotion of animals and machines, physical characteristics of the substrate can strongly impact kinematics and performance. Snakes are an especially interesting system for studying substrate effects because their gait depends more on the environment than on their speed. We tested sidewinder rattlesnakes (Crotalus cerastes) on two surfaces: sand collected from their natural environment and vinyl tile flooring, an artificial surface often used to elicit sidewinding in laboratory settings. Of ten kinematic variables examined, two differed significantly between the substrates: the body's waveform had an average of ∼17% longer wavelength on vinyl flooring (measured in body lengths), and snakes lifted their bodies an average of ∼40% higher on sand (measured in body lengths). Sidewinding may also differ among substrates in ways we did not measure (e.g. ground reaction forces and energetics), leaving open clear directions for future study.
对于动物和机器的陆地运动，基质的物理特性会强烈影响运动学和性能。蛇是研究基质效应的一个特别有趣的系统，因为它们的步态更多地取决于环境，而不是速度。我们在两种表面上测试了响尾蛇（Crotalus cerastes）：从其自然环境中收集的沙子和乙烯基地板，这是一种在实验室环境中常用于诱发响尾蛇运动的人工表面。在所检查的十个运动学变量中，有两个在基质之间有显著差异：身体的波形在乙烯基地板上的平均波长长约 17%（以身体长度为单位测量），而蛇在沙子上的身体抬起高度平均高出约 40%（以身体长度为单位测量）。响尾蛇在不同的基质中可能还有我们没有测量到的差异（例如地面反作用力和能量学），这为未来的研究留下了明确的方向。
