Skeletal Construction Provides Shock Absorption

a cheetah chases pray in grasslands of tanzania

Biological Strategy

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Capture, Absorb, or Filter Energy

Energy is naturally available in many forms, including kinetic, potential, thermal, elastic, radiant, chemical, and more. All living systems require energy to carry out their many activities, and have developed strategies appropriate to one or more of those forms. For example, some plants maximize their surface area available for capturing radiant energy from the sun while others have strategies to focus scattered light onto photosynthesizing areas.

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Manage Impact

An impact is a high force or mechanical shock that happens over a short period of time, such as a hammer hitting a nail rather than a hand pushing slowly against a wall. Because of their speed and force, impacts don’t allow materials to slowly adjust to the force, which can lead to cracks, ruptures, and complete breakage. Therefore, living systems have strategies that can absorb, dissipate, or otherwise survive that force without the need to add large amounts of material. For example, the Toco toucan’s large beak is very lightweight, yet can withstand impacts because it’s made of a composite material with rigid foam inside and layers of a hard, fibrous material outside.

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Mammals

Class Mammalia (“breast”): Bats, cats, whales, horses, humans

Mammals make up less than 1% of all animals on earth, but they include some of the most well-known species. We know first-hand some of the characteristics that make mammals unique, like having hair, being able to sweat, and producing milk through mammary glands. Another critical shared feature is a set of highly-specialized teeth. Unlike sharks or alligators, for example, whose teeth are generally all the same size and shape, mammals have differently shaped teeth in different areas of the jaws to target specific foods or foraging strategies.

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The skeleton of a cat allows it to absorb shocks to its forelimbs because it has no direct skeletal connection between its collarbone and vertebral column.

Image: Ryan Somma /

Image: Jason Bechtel /

Photo is of a cheetah chasing a lure at the Cincinnati Zoo Mast Farm Picnic & Cheetah Run.

“Cats have no direct skeletal connection through a collarbone between the bones of their forelimbs (pectoral girdle) and those of their vertebral columns. In effect, they have shock-mounted forelimbs, which cushion a landing after a jump. None of these schemes reduce the extremes of velocity one bit; what they reduce are the velocity gradients.” (Vogel 2003:77)

Last Updated August 18, 2016

References

Book

Comparative Biomechanics: Life's Physical World, Second Edition

17/06/2013 | Steven Vogel

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