Quadrupedalism is a form of land animal locomotion using four limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a quadrupedal manner is known as a quadruped, meaning "four feet" (from the Latin quad for "four" and ped for "foot"). The majority of quadrupeds are vertebrate animals, including mammals such as cattle, dogs and cats, and reptiles, like lizards.
Birds, humans, insects, crustaceans, and snakes are not quadrupeds. However, there ...
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Quadrupedalism is a form of land animal locomotion using four limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a quadrupedal manner is known as a quadruped, meaning "four feet" (from the Latin quad for "four" and ped for "foot"). The majority of quadrupeds are vertebrate animals, including mammals such as cattle, dogs and cats, and reptiles, like lizards.
Birds, humans, insects, crustaceans, and snakes are not quadrupeds. However, there are some exceptions. For example, among the insects, the praying mantis is a quadruped. A few birds may use quadrupedal movement in some circumstances, for example the shoebill will sometimes use its wings to right itself after lunging at prey.
Not all four-limbed animals are quadrupeds. Although arms and wings are, in the evolutionary sense, modified legs, four-limbed vertebrates are in fact classed as tetrapods, members of the taxonomic unit Tetrapoda. These include all vertebrates with quadrupedal ancestors, including mammals, reptiles,...
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