A rete mirabile is a complex of arteries and veins lying very close to each other, found in some vertebrates, mainly warm-blooded ones. The rete mirabile utilizes countercurrent blood flow within the net to act as a countercurrent exchanger. It exchanges heat, ions, or gases between vessel walls so that the two bloodstreams within the rete maintain a gradient with respect to temperature, or concentration of gases or solutes. This term was coined by Galen.
Constriction is a method used by several snake species to kill or subdue their prey. Although some species of venomous and mildly venomous snakes do use constriction to subdue their prey, most snakes which use constriction lack venom. The snake strikes at its prey and holds on, pulling the prey into its coils or, in the case of very large prey, pulling itself onto the prey. The snake then wraps one or two loops around the prey, forming a constriction coil. The snake monitors the prey's heartbeat to ascertain it is dead. This can be a physically demanding and potentially dangerous procedure for the snake, because its metabolism is accelerated up to sevenfold and it becomes vulnerable to attack by another predator.
Campaniform sensilla are a class of mechanoreceptors found in insects, which respond to local stress and strain within the animal's cuticle. Campaniform sensilla function as proprioceptors that detect mechanical load as resistance to muscle contraction, similar to mammalian Golgi tendon organs. Sensory feedback from campaniform sensilla is integrated in the control of posture and locomotion.
Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. The habitats pose numerous mechanical challenges to animals moving through them and lead to a variety of anatomical, behavioral and ecological consequences as well as variations throughout different species. Furthermore, many of these same principles may be applied to climbing without trees, such as on rock piles or mountains.
Myomeres are blocks of skeletal muscle tissue arranged in sequence, commonly found in aquatic chordates. Myomeres are separated from adjacent myomeres by connective fascia (myosepta) and most easily seen in larval fishes or in the olm. Myomere counts are sometimes used for identifying specimens, since their number corresponds to the number of vertebrae in the adults. Location varies, with some species containing these only near the tails, while some have them located near the scapular or pelvic girdles. Depending on the species, myomeres could be arranged in an epaxial or hypaxial manner. Hypaxial refers to ventral muscles and related structures while epaxial refers to more dorsal muscles. The horizontal septum divides these two regions in vertebrates from cyclostomes to gnathostomes. In terrestrial chordates, the myomeres become fused as well as indistinct, due to the disappearance of myosepta.
Development is a bi-weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of developmental biology that covers cellular and molecular mechanisms of animal and plant development. It is published by The Company of Biologists. Development is partnered with Publons, is part of the Review Commons initiative and has two-way integration with bioRxiv.
In behavioral biology, the optomotor response is an innate, orienting behavior evoked by whole-field visual motion and is common to fish and insects during locomotion, such as swimming, walking and flying. The optomotor response has algorithmic properties such that the direction of the whole-field coherent motion dictates the direction of the behavioral output. For instance, when zebrafish larvae are presented with a sinusoidal black and white grating pattern, the larvae will turn and swim in the direction of the perceived motion.
The slit sensilla, also known as the slit sense organ, is a small mechanoreceptory organ or group of organs in the exoskeleton of arachnids which detects physical deformation or strain due to forces experienced by the animal. The organ appears in the vast majority of discovered arachnids, and is "remarkably consistent" in location and direction within each order. The arachnid slit sensilla corresponds to the campaniform sensilla found in insects.
Pringleophaga marioni is a moth of the family Tineidae. It is endemic to Marion Island. Beside being unable to fly, this moth species is notable because of its ability to resist temperatures that are so low, that they would kill most other species.
Aquatic feeding mechanisms face a special difficulty as compared to feeding on land, because the density of water is about the same as that of the prey, so the prey tends to be pushed away when the mouth is closed. This problem was first identified by Robert McNeill Alexander. As a result, underwater predators, especially bony fish, have evolved a number of specialized feeding mechanisms, such as filter feeding, ram feeding, suction feeding, protrusion, and pivot feeding.
The work loop technique is used in muscle physiology to evaluate the mechanical work and power output of skeletal or cardiac muscle contractions via in vitro muscle testing of whole muscles, fiber bundles or single muscle fibers. This technique is primarily used for cyclical contractions such as cockroach walking., the rhythmic flapping of bird wings or the beating of heart ventricular muscle.
Malcolm Burrows FRS is a British zoologist, and emeritus professor of zoology at the University of Cambridge. His area of research specialization is in the neural control of animal behaviour particularly in those of small invertebrates. Some of his research examines the circuitry of neurons, muscles and the mechanics of joints involved in the rapid movements and leaps of insects.
This is a list of the fastest animals in the world, by types of animal.
Rohini Balakrishnan is an Indian bioacoustics expert. She is a senior Professor and Chair of the Centre for Ecological Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. Her research focuses on animal behavior through the lens of animal communication and bioacoustics.
Adrian Leland Rees Thomas is a professor of biomechanics at the University of Oxford and Director of Studies in Biological Sciences at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford running the Animal Flight Research Group. He is co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Animal Dynamics and is also chairman of the flight section of the Bionis International Biomimetics Network.
Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral surface of fish. The paired pelvic fins are homologous to the hindlimbs of tetrapods.
Hair-plates are a type of proprioceptor found in the folds of insect joints. They consist of a cluster of hairs, in which each hair is innervated by a single mechanosensory neuron. Functionally, hair-plates operate as "limit-detectors" by signaling the extreme ranges of motion of a joint.
The study of animal locomotion is a branch of biology that investigates and quantifies how animals move.
Patricia M. Schulte is a Canadian zoologist who is a Professor of Zoology at the University of British Columbia. Her research considers physiology, genomics and population genetics. Schulte is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the former President of the Canadian Society of Zoologists.
The femoral chordotonal organ is a group of mechanosensory neurons found in an insect leg that detects the movements and the position of the femur/tibia joint. It is thought to function as a proprioceptor that is critical for precise control of leg position by sending the information regarding the femur/tibia joint to the motor circuits in the ventral nerve cord and the brain
