HOW DO OSTRICHES RUN SO FAST?

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Led by Professor Jonas Rubenson, scientists from the University of Western Australia's School of Sport Science, Exercise and Health have discovered how ostriches manage to run so fast and, perhaps more importantly, so efficiently.

Ostriches use half the energy that humans need in order to run at top speed, say the researchers, who have made the discovery by comparing humans and ostriches in a running test. The secret is their springiness as it has been discovered that ostrich tendons store twice as much ‘elastic energy’ per step than humans.

Five tame ostriches were involved in the study; the scientists measured the movement of their limbs and joints and the force with which the birds' feet hit the ground.

The ostriches were fitted with reflective markers on their joints to allow their movement to be captured in detail as they ran on a purpose-built 50m running track. To make a comparison, five human volunteers were studied in exactly the same way - with several cameras capturing them from different angles.

Professor Rubenson said the findings could provide insight for biologists looking at the evolution of bipedalism, both in humans and in dinosaurs. They could also reveal some of the biological secrets of agility, which should ultimately inform the development of prosthetic limbs and even robots.

Because ostriches are of similar mass to humans, it allowed the team to draw comparisons between the ostrich and the human gait. The research team was surprised to find that ostriches and humans used nearly exactly the same amount of mechanical work to "swing" their limbs back and forth when running.

‘..the difference lies in the elasticity of their joints..’ Professor Rubenson explained. ‘…ostriches generate over twice as much power from recoil of elastic energy stored in tendons than humans, which means they need less muscle power to run at the same speed. Moving with elastic limbs is akin to bouncing on a 'pogo stick', where you don't have to work very hard to bounce along - so it's all in the spring of their step...’

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