...Nina Ursula Schaller; Kristiaan D'Août; Rikk Villa; Bernd Herkner; Peter Aerts SUMMARY The ostrich is highly specialized in terrestrial locomotion and is the only extant bird that is both didactyl and exhibits a permanently elevated metatarsophalangeal joint. This extreme degree of digitigrady...

...Nicola C. Smith; Karin J. Jespers; Alan M. Wilson SUMMARY Kinematic and kinetic parameters of running gait were investigated through growth in the ostrich, from two weeks up to 10 months of age, in order to investigate the effects of increasing body size. Ontogenetic scaling relationships were...

.... Incorporating a five-segment, 17 degree-of-freedom (d.f.) kinematic model of the ostrich hind limb developed from anatomical specimens, we quantified the three-dimensional(3-D) joint axis alignment and joint kinematics during running (at ∼3.3 m s –1 ) in the largest avian biped, the ostrich. Our analysis...

...Andrea Fuller; Peter R. Kamerman; Shane K. Maloney; Graham Mitchell; Duncan Mitchell SUMMARY We used implanted miniature data loggers to measure brain (in or near the hypothalamus) and carotid arterial blood temperatures at 5 min intervals in six free-ranging ostriches Struthio camelus...

...John N. Maina; Christopher Nathaniel SUMMARY The ostrich lung, with its lack of interparabronchial septa, the presence of very shallow atria and exceptional morphometric refinement, structurally resembles those of small, energetic flying birds, whereas it also displays features characteristic...