Limb preference in the gallop of dogs and the half-bound of pikas on flat ground

Authors: Hackert, R.¹; Maes, L. D.¹; Herbin, M.¹; Libourel, P. -A.¹; Abourachid, A.¹

Source: Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain, and Cognition, Volume 13, Number 4, February 2008 , pp. 310-319(10)

Publisher: Psychology Press, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

During fast locomotion—gallop, half-bound, bound—of quadruped mammals, the ground contact of the limbs in each pair does not alternate symmetrically. Animals using such asymmetrical gait thus choose whether the left or the right limb will contact the ground first, and this gives rise to limb preference. Here, we report that dogs (Mammalia, Carnivora) and pikas (Mammalia, Lagomorpha) prefer one forelimb as trailing limb and use it as such almost twice as often as the other. We also show that this choice depends on the individual and is not a characteristic of the species, and that the strength of the preference was not dependent on the animal's running speed.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1080/13576500801948692

Affiliations: 1: Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France

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