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THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Eric Snively A ... - Ohio University

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Dunng Iinear progression when an animal is moving at a constant speed,<br />

forces acting on the foot during stance phase are directly proportional to body<br />

weight (mg: mass x gravitational acceleration), and inversely proportional to duty<br />

factor (p), the fraction of time the foot spends wntading the ground (Alexander<br />

1979):<br />

(6) F=xmg/4p.<br />

Quantities for rn (2212 kg, negtecting the mass of the phalanges) and g (9.81<br />

rneters/second2) are estimated or known. The value for duty factor (p) depends<br />

upon the gait of the animal.<br />

Because animals utilize varying gains, a specific duty factor must be<br />

estimated to detemine forces germane to the problem at hand. For exarnple, at<br />

the walk-trot transition, the minimal value for P is 0.5, because each foot is on the<br />

ground half the time. When walking, animals employ a double stance phase, and<br />

the duty factor is above 0.5. This study examines the potential effects of high<br />

stresses on the G. Iibratus metatarsus; therefore faster gaits are considered.<br />

Running gaits, such as trotting or galloping, incorporate a ballistic suspended<br />

phase in which both feet are off the ground. The duty factor during running<br />

decreases to below 0.5. As a biped, Gorgosaurus libratus could not gallop, but<br />

could trot if forces and moments did not exceed safety factors for the limb bones.<br />

Gorgosaurus libratus probably employed gaits similar to those of bipedal modem<br />

ratites, such as ostriches (although limb proportions more closely match those of<br />

cursorial mammals: Carrano 1998). For a male ostrich running at high speed,

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