Physiology Commons^™

Minimum Cost Of Transport In Asian Elephants: Do We Really Need A Bigger Elephant?, V. A. Langman, M. F. Rowe, T. J. Roberts, N. V. Langman, C. R. Taylor

Dartmouth Scholarship

Body mass is the primary determinant of an animal’s energy requirements. At their optimum walking speed, large animals have lower mass-specific energy requirements for locomotion than small ones. In animals ranging in size from 0.8 g (roach) to 260 kg (zebu steer), the minimum cost of transport (COT_min) decreases with increasing body size roughly as COT_min∝body mass (M_b)^{–0.316±0.023} (95% CI). Typically, the variation of COT_min with body mass is weaker at the intraspecific level as a result of physiological and geometric similarity within closely related species. The interspecific relationship estimates that …