Falkingham, PL (2025) Reconstructing dinosaur locomotion. Biology Letters, 21 (1). ISSN 1744-9561

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Abstract

Dinosaur locomotor biomechanics are of major interest. Locomotion of an animal affects many, if not most, aspects of life reconstruction, including behaviour, performance, ecology and appearance. Yet locomotion is one aspect of non-avian dinosaurs that we cannot directly observe. To shed light on how dinosaurs moved, we must draw from multiple sources of evidence. Extant taxa provide the basic principles of locomotion, bracket soft-tissue reconstructions and provide validation data for methods and hypotheses applied to dinosaurs. The skeletal evidence itself can be used directly to reconstruct posture, range of motion and mass (segment and whole-body). Building on skeletal reconstructions, musculoskeletal models inform muscle function and form the basis of simulations to test hypotheses of locomotor performance. Finally, fossilized footprints are our only direct record of motion and can provide important snapshots of extinct animals, shedding light on speed, gait and posture. Building confident reconstructions of dinosaur locomotion requires evidence from all four sources of information. This review explores recent work in these areas, with a methodological focus.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	06 Biological Sciences; Evolutionary Biology
Subjects:	Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology
Divisions:	Biological and Environmental Sciences (from Sep 19)
Publisher:	The Royal Society
SWORD Depositor:	A Symplectic
Date Deposited:	15 Jan 2025 10:03
Last Modified:	15 Jan 2025 10:03
DOI or ID number:	10.1098/rsbl.2024.0441
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/25277

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