FREE SHIPPING over $40
OVER 9000 FIVE-STAR REVIEWS
5% OFF ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS
100% HAPPINESS GUARANTEE
Analyze Diet
0
Home / Equine Research Bank / J Exp Biol / Bone strength in small mammals and bipedal birds: do safety ...
The Journal of experimental biology1982; 98; 289-301; doi: 10.1242/jeb.98.1.289

Bone strength in small mammals and bipedal birds: do safety factors change with body size?

Abstract: Measurements of the cross-sectional geometry and length of bones from animals of different sizes suggest that peak locomotory stresses might be as much as nine times greater in the limb bones of a 300 kg horse than those of a 0.10 kg chipmunk. To determine if the bones of larger animals are stronger than those of small animals, the bending strength of whole bone specimens from the limbs of small mammals and bipedal birds was measured and compared with published data for large mammalian cortical bone (horses and bovids). No significant difference (P greater than 0.2) was found in the failure stress of bone over a range in size from 0.05-700 kg (233 +/- 53 MN/m2 for small animals compared to 200 +/- 28 MN/m2 for large animals). This finding suggests that either the limb bones of small animals are much stronger than they need to be, or that other aspects of locomotion (e.g. duty factor and limb orientation relative to the direction of the ground force) act to decrease peak locomotory stresses in larger animals.
Get Full Text
Publication Date: 1982-06-01 PubMed ID: 7108434DOI: 10.1242/jeb.98.1.289Google Scholar: Lookup
The Equine Research Bank provides access to a large database of publicly available scientific literature. Inclusion in the Research Bank does not imply endorsement of study methods or findings by Mad Barn.
LinkedInCopy
  • Comparative Study
  • Journal Article
  • Research Support
  • U.S. Gov't
  • P.H.S.

Summary

This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.

This research investigates whether the bones of larger animals like horses are stronger than those of small animals like chipmunks and birds. The results suggest that either small animals’ bones are much stronger than required or other locomotory aspects reduce stress on larger animals’ bones.

Objective of the Research

  • The study aimed to decipher if there are size-dependent variations in bone strength across small mammals and bipedal birds compared to larger mammalian species. The interrelation of body sizes with peak locomotory stresses and bone strength was a matter of study.

Methodology

  • Researchers studied the cross-sectional geometry of bones and their lengths from animals of different sizes, providing insights into the expected stresses under peak locomotion.
  • The bending strength of whole bone specimens from the limbs of small mammals and bipedal birds was measured and compared to available data for large mammalian cortical bone, particularly from horses and bovids.

Results

  • The research revealed no significant variance in the failure stress of bones across a range of sizes from 0.05kg to 700kg (this parameter for the small animals was 233 +/- 53 MN/m2 compared to 200 +/- 28 MN/m2 for large animals).

Conclusions

  • The nearly equal bone strength across species of varying sizes either denotes that the limb bones of smaller animals are much stronger than necessary, or otherwise aspects in locomotion, such as duty factor and limb orientation relative to ground force direction, likely work towards reducing peak locomotory stresses in larger animals.

Cite This Article

APA
Biewener AA. (1982). Bone strength in small mammals and bipedal birds: do safety factors change with body size? J Exp Biol, 98, 289-301. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.98.1.289

Publication

The Journal of experimental biology
ISSN: 0022-0949
NlmUniqueID: 0243705
Country: England
Language: English
Volume: 98
Pages: 289-301

Researcher Affiliations

Biewener, A A

    MeSH Terms

    • Animals
    • Body Weight
    • Bone and Bones / physiology
    • Locomotion
    • Stress, Mechanical

    Grant Funding

    • AM18140 / NIADDK NIH HHS
    • T32GM07117 / NIGMS NIH HHS

    Citations

    This article has been cited 37 times.
    1. Provini P, Camp AL, Crandell KE. Emerging biological insights enabled by high-resolution 3D motion data: promises, perspectives and pitfalls. J Exp Biol 2023 Apr 25;226(Suppl_1).
      doi: 10.1242/jeb.245138pubmed: 36752301google scholar: lookup
    2. Abdi AM, Pasiou E, Konstantopoulos P, Driva TS, Kontos A, Papagianni E, Kourkoulis S, Dimitroulis D, Perrea DN, Vlamis J. Effects of Incretin Pathway Elements on Bone Properties. Cureus 2023 Jan;15(1):e33656.
      doi: 10.7759/cureus.33656pubmed: 36643078google scholar: lookup
    3. Harrison JF, Biewener A, Bernhardt JR, Burger JR, Brown JH, Coto ZN, Duell ME, Lynch M, Moffett ER, Norin T, Pettersen AK, Smith FA, Somjee U, Traniello JFA, Williams TM. White Paper: An Integrated Perspective on the Causes of Hypometric Metabolic Scaling in Animals. Integr Comp Biol 2022 Aug 6;62(5):1395-418.
      doi: 10.1093/icb/icac136pubmed: 35933126google scholar: lookup
    4. Brocklehurst N, Ford DP, Benson RBJ. Early Origins of Divergent Patterns of Morphological Evolution on the Mammal and Reptile Stem-Lineages. Syst Biol 2022 Aug 10;71(5):1195-1209.
      doi: 10.1093/sysbio/syac020pubmed: 35274702google scholar: lookup
    5. Naish D, Witton MP, Martin-Silverstone E. Powered flight in hatchling pterosaurs: evidence from wing form and bone strength. Sci Rep 2021 Jul 22;11(1):13130.
      doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-92499-zpubmed: 34294737google scholar: lookup
    6. Mossor AM, Austin BL, Avey-Arroyo JA, Butcher MT. A Horse of a Different Color?: Tensile Strength and Elasticity of Sloth Flexor Tendons. Integr Org Biol 2020;2(1):obaa032.
      doi: 10.1093/iob/obaa032pubmed: 33796818google scholar: lookup
    7. Weaver LN, Grossnickle DM. Functional diversity of small-mammal postcrania is linked to both substrate preference and body size. Curr Zool 2020 Oct;66(5):539-553.
      doi: 10.1093/cz/zoaa057pubmed: 33293932google scholar: lookup
    8. Hutchinson JR, Felkler D, Houston K, Chang YM, Brueggen J, Kledzik D, Vliet KA. Divergent evolution of terrestrial locomotor abilities in extant Crocodylia. Sci Rep 2019 Dec 17;9(1):19302.
      doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-55768-6pubmed: 31848420google scholar: lookup
    9. Wei X, Zhang Z. Ontogenetic changes of geometrical and mechanical characteristics of the avian femur: a comparison between precocial and altricial birds. J Anat 2019 Nov;235(5):903-911.
      doi: 10.1111/joa.13062pubmed: 31355453google scholar: lookup
    10. Channon SB, Young IS, Cordner B, Swann N. Ontogenetic scaling of pelvic limb muscles, tendons and locomotor economy in the ostrich (Struthio camelus). J Exp Biol 2019 Sep 3;222(Pt 17).
      doi: 10.1242/jeb.182741pubmed: 31350301google scholar: lookup
    11. D'Amore DC, Clulow S, Doody JS, Rhind D, McHenry CR. Claw morphometrics in monitor lizards: Variable substrate and habitat use correlate to shape diversity within a predator guild. Ecol Evol 2018 Jul;8(13):6766-6778.
      doi: 10.1002/ece3.4185pubmed: 30038773google scholar: lookup
    12. Schmitz A, Ondreka N, Poleschinski J, Fischer D, Schmitz H, Klein A, Bleckmann H, Bruecker C. The peregrine falcon's rapid dive: on the adaptedness of the arm skeleton and shoulder girdle. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 2018 Aug;204(8):747-759.
      doi: 10.1007/s00359-018-1276-ypubmed: 29959501google scholar: lookup
    13. Montoya-Sanhueza G, Chinsamy A. Cortical bone adaptation and mineral mobilization in the subterranean mammal Bathyergus suillus (Rodentia: Bathyergidae): effects of age and sex. PeerJ 2018;6:e4944.
      doi: 10.7717/peerj.4944pubmed: 29910978google scholar: lookup
    14. van Heteren AH, van Dierendonck RCH, van Egmond MANE, Ten Hagen SL, Kreuning J. Neither slim nor fat: estimating the mass of the dodo (Raphus cucullatus, Aves, Columbiformes) based on the largest sample of dodo bones to date. PeerJ 2017;5:e4110.
      doi: 10.7717/peerj.4110pubmed: 29230358google scholar: lookup
    15. Thompson KD, Weiss-Bilka HE, McGough EB, Ravosa MJ. Bone up: craniomandibular development and hard-tissue biomineralization in neonate mice. Zoology (Jena) 2017 Oct;124:51-60.
      doi: 10.1016/j.zool.2017.01.002pubmed: 28807504google scholar: lookup
    16. Dick TJ, Clemente CJ. Where Have All the Giants Gone? How Animals Deal with the Problem of Size. PLoS Biol 2017 Jan;15(1):e2000473.
      doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2000473pubmed: 28076354google scholar: lookup
    17. Hood WR, Hobensack M. The effect of locomotion on the mobilization of minerals from the maternal skeleton. PLoS One 2015;10(3):e0122702.
      doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0122702pubmed: 25799494google scholar: lookup
    18. Lamas LP, Main RP, Hutchinson JR. Ontogenetic scaling patterns and functional anatomy of the pelvic limb musculature in emus (Dromaius novaehollandiae). PeerJ 2014;2:e716.
      doi: 10.7717/peerj.716pubmed: 25551028google scholar: lookup
    19. Byrnes G, Jayne BC. Gripping during climbing of arboreal snakes may be safe but not economical. Biol Lett 2014 Aug;10(8).
      doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2014.0434pubmed: 25142200google scholar: lookup
    20. Field DJ, Lynner C, Brown C, Darroch SA. Skeletal correlates for body mass estimation in modern and fossil flying birds. PLoS One 2013;8(11):e82000.
      doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0082000pubmed: 24312392google scholar: lookup
    21. Yapuncich GS, Boyer DM. Interspecific scaling patterns of talar articular surfaces within primates and their closest living relatives. J Anat 2014 Feb;224(2):150-72.
      doi: 10.1111/joa.12137pubmed: 24219027google scholar: lookup
    22. Kramer PA, Sylvester AD. Humans, geometric similarity and the Froude number: is ''reasonably close'' really close enough?. Biol Open 2013 Feb 15;2(2):111-20.
      doi: 10.1242/bio.20122691pubmed: 23431123google scholar: lookup
    23. Doube M, Yen SC, Kłosowski MM, Farke AA, Hutchinson JR, Shefelbine SJ. Whole-bone scaling of the avian pelvic limb. J Anat 2012 Jul;221(1):21-9.
      doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2012.01514.xpubmed: 22606941google scholar: lookup
    24. Witton MP, Habib MB. On the size and flight diversity of giant pterosaurs, the use of birds as pterosaur analogues and comments on pterosaur flightlessness. PLoS One 2010 Nov 15;5(11):e13982.
      doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0013982pubmed: 21085624google scholar: lookup
    25. Schmitt D, Zumwalt AC, Hamrick MW. The relationship between bone mechanical properties and ground reaction forces in normal and hypermuscular mice. J Exp Zool A Ecol Genet Physiol 2010 Jul 1;313(6):339-51.
      doi: 10.1002/jez.604pubmed: 20535766google scholar: lookup
    26. McGowan CP, Skinner J, Biewener AA. Hind limb scaling of kangaroos and wallabies (superfamily Macropodoidea): implications for hopping performance, safety factor and elastic savings. J Anat 2008 Feb;212(2):153-63.
      doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2007.00841.xpubmed: 18086129google scholar: lookup
    27. Reich T, Gefen A. Effect of trabecular bone loss on cortical strain rate during impact in an in vitro model of avian femur. Biomed Eng Online 2006 Jul 19;5:45.
      doi: 10.1186/1475-925X-5-45pubmed: 16854237google scholar: lookup
    28. Rayfield EJ. Cranial mechanics and feeding in Tyrannosaurus rex. Proc Biol Sci 2004 Jul 22;271(1547):1451-9.
      doi: 10.1098/rspb.2004.2755pubmed: 15306316google scholar: lookup
    29. Günther M, Keppler V, Seyfarth A, Blickhan R. Human leg design: optimal axial alignment under constraints. J Math Biol 2004 Jun;48(6):623-46.
      doi: 10.1007/s00285-004-0269-3pubmed: 15164226google scholar: lookup
    30. Bullimore SR, Burn JF. Distorting limb design for dynamically similar locomotion. Proc Biol Sci 2004 Feb 7;271(1536):285-9.
      doi: 10.1098/rspb.2003.2611pubmed: 15058440google scholar: lookup
    31. Brand RA, Stanford CM, Swan CC. How do tissues respond and adapt to stresses around a prosthesis? A primer on finite element stress analysis for orthopaedic surgeons. Iowa Orthop J 2003;23:13-22.
      pubmed: 14575244
    32. Diamond J. Quantitative evolutionary design. J Physiol 2002 Jul 15;542(Pt 2):337-45.
      doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.2002.018366pubmed: 12122135google scholar: lookup
    33. Parfitt AM. The two faces of growth: benefits and risks to bone integrity. Osteoporos Int 1994 Nov;4(6):382-98.
      doi: 10.1007/BF01622201pubmed: 7696836google scholar: lookup
    34. Maynard JA, Pedrini-Mille A, Pedrini VA, Vailas AC. Morphological and biochemical effects of strenuous exercise on immature long bones. Iowa Orthop J 1995;15:162-7.
      pubmed: 7634027
    35. Rubin CT. Skeletal strain and the functional significance of bone architecture. Calcif Tissue Int 1984;36 Suppl 1:S11-8.
      doi: 10.1007/BF02406128pubmed: 6430509google scholar: lookup
    36. Jones ME, Jones K, Nudds RL. Biomechanical limits of hopping in the hindlimbs of giant extinct kangaroos. Sci Rep 2026 Jan 22;16(1):1309.
      doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-29939-7pubmed: 41571737google scholar: lookup
    37. Rothier PS, Herrel A, Benson RBJ, Hedrick BP. Body mass evolution as a driver of morphological and ecological diversity in terrestrial mammals. BMC Ecol Evol 2025 Jul 11;25(1):69.
      doi: 10.1186/s12862-025-02393-9pubmed: 40646436google scholar: lookup
    Subscribe to our newsletter
    Join 99,344 horse owners like you who receive our email updates on horse health and nutrition.