Study Looks at How Extinct Species Moved

U.S., Canadian and British scientists have created a new way of determining how extinct species moved that’s independent of analyses of limb structure.

Pennsylvania State University researchers used high-resolution computerized tomography scans in the first large-scale study of the relationship between modes of locomotion and the dimensions of an important part of the organ of balance.

The study involved 91 primate species and 119 additional species. Documenting the link between the way an animal moves and the dimensions of the three semicircular canals of the inner ear on each side of the skull.

We have shown that there is a fundamental adaptive mechanism linking a species’ locomotion with the sensory systems that process information about its environment, said Penn State Professor Alan Walker, one of the team’s leaders. If an animal evolves a new way of moving about the world, its organ of balance must evolve accordingly.

The study that included researchers from University College London, the University of California-Riverside the eCollege Co. and the University of Winnipeg is available online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and will appear in the journal’s June 26 print issue.