In plantigrades (e.g. humans, bears, most rodents), the entire sole of the foot touches the ground, in digitigrades (most carnivores, most birds), the heel is off the ground and unguligrades (ungulates) walk on hooves.
In plantigrades (e.g. humans, bears, most rodents), the entire sole of the foot touches the ground, in digitigrades (most carnivores, most birds), the heel is off the ground and unguligrades (ungulates) walk on hooves.
Aren’t snakes terrestrial vertebrates? None of these seem to apply to snakes
Snakes do not abide by the laws of nature.
It should be noted the linked article is actually titled “Carnivore & Ungulate Locomotion” and is about running on limbs. Really cool overview, actually
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectilinear_locomotion
Damn, good point. Couldn’t come up with a counter-example so just copy/pasted off of Wikipedia verbatim lmao Look out for tomorrow’s TIL when I look up what that type of locomotion is called lol
Actually, I’m really at a loss at what to call this paraphyletic group; tetrapods come to mind but they technically still include snakes…
Modified plantigrade? Close relatives like skinks are plantigrades and some snake species have vestigial hind limb protrusions that are basically highly-modified femurs.