Ostriches run fast because of 'springy' tendons
Friday, October 29, 2010 - 06:00
in Health & Medicine
Australian and U.S. researchers studying the movement of ostriches have discovered the giant flightless birds can store double the elastic energy per step in their tendons than humans can. This considerably reduces the effort needed by the muscles, and enables the ostrich (and perhaps also the emu) to run twice as fast as humans while requiring only half the energy.