ABSTRACT
Animals have evolved a variety of body structures and associated behaviors with which they can propel themselves through the media of their habitats. This chapter discusses two general sources of information used to guide their movements: Information from the environment can be used as a frame of reference for whole body movements and animals can use their own body axes as a frame of reference for the movements of their body parts. Locomotion is accomplished by the coordinated activity of limbs. Students will study the constraints and their effects by observing and experimenting with the locomotion of grasshoppers. Grasshoppers have adapted their limbs and behavior for locomotion in the 3 principal media which animals encounter in nature: land, water, and air. Observing students’ grasshopper carefully, they might have noticed that extension of the tibiae is more rapid than their return or flexion.
