I have split off Simon Spooner's excellent question on the locomotion endurance capabilities of different animal species into this new thread from the Your Thoughts on My Book on Barefoot Running thread.
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First of all, there are not many animals that actually "run" the way that the bipedal human animal can since most animals are quadripedal. Animals that travel far, fast, or easily on the ground are said to be cursorial. Animals that jump or hop are said to be saltatorial. Cursorial animals include some reptiles (some actually run in a bipedal fashion), some birds (the road runner can run 25 km/hr and the ostrich can run 80 km/hr bipedally), marsupials (a kangaroo has been seen to clear a 9 foot tall fence by hopping), primates (man is the best cursor of this bunch), rabbits/rodents (jackrabbits can run 64-72 km/hr), carnivores (a fox has been known to cover 240 km in 1.5 days during a fox hunt, but the cheetah seldom runs more than 0.5 km but has been clocked at 110 km/hr), ungulates (the camel has traveled 186 km in 12 hours and and the pronghorn has been paced by a car at 98 km/hr).
From Hildebrand, Milton: Analysis of Vertebrate Structure, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1974, pp. 487-491.
The course I took from Dr. Hildebrand at UC Davis during my junior year at UCD (1977-1978) on Comparative Vertebrate Morphology was one of the best courses that I have ever taken in my life. Fascinating stuff!
Thanks Simon!:drinks
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