Blood flow rate to the femur of extinct kangaroos implies a higher locomotor intensity compared to living hopping macropods

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dc.contributor.authorHu, Q.
dc.contributor.authorSeymour, R.S.
dc.contributor.authorSnelling, E.P.
dc.contributor.authorWells, R.T.
dc.date.issued2024
dc.description.abstractThe stocky skeletons and post-cranial anatomy of many extinct kangaroos indicate that they might have engaged in varied locomotor behaviors, rather than bipedal hopping, as their primary mode of locomotion. This study investigates support for this idea by estimating femoral bone perfusion, which is a correlate of locomotor intensity, in extinct kangaroos compared to living hopping species. Femur blood flow rates can be estimated from the sizes of nutrient foramina on the femur shaft of living and extinct species, without preservation of soft tissue. Estimated femur blood flow rates among the extinct Macropus, Protemnodon and Sthenurinae (Sthenurus, Simosthenurus and Procoptodon) are not significantly different from one another but are significantly greater than in living hopping macropods after accounting for the effect of body mass, consistent with their purportedly different locomotor style. The giant sthenurines have more robust femora than extrapolated from data of living hopping macropods, possibly due to the larger sthenurines requiring relatively stronger leg bones to support their heavier body weights, especially if loaded onto a single limb during bipedal striding.
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityQiaohui Hu, Roger S. Seymour, Edward P. Snelling, Rod T. Wells
dc.identifier.citationJournal of Mammalian Evolution, 2024; 31(1):2-1-2-8
dc.identifier.doi10.1007/s10914-023-09701-4
dc.identifier.issn1064-7554
dc.identifier.issn1573-7055
dc.identifier.orcidHu, Q. [0000-0003-3163-7859]
dc.identifier.orcidSeymour, R.S. [0000-0002-3395-0059]
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/2440/142260
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC
dc.relation.granthttp://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP170104952
dc.rights© The Author(s) 2024. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
dc.source.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10914-023-09701-4
dc.subjectAllometry; Blood flow; Femur morphology; Kangaroo; Locomotion; Nutrient foramen
dc.titleBlood flow rate to the femur of extinct kangaroos implies a higher locomotor intensity compared to living hopping macropods
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.publication-statusPublished

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