@article{TEXTUAL,
      recid = {10801},
      author = {Grossi, Bruno and Iriarte-Díaz, José and Larach, Omar and  Canals, Mauricio and Vásquez, Rodrigo A.},
      title = {Walking Like Dinosaurs: Chickens with Artificial Tails  Provide Clues about Non-Avian Theropod Locomotion},
      journal = {PLOS ONE},
      address = {2014-02-05},
      number = {TEXTUAL},
      abstract = {<p>Birds still share many traits with their dinosaur  ancestors, making them the best living group to reconstruct  certain aspects of non-avian theropod biology. Bipedal,  digitigrade locomotion and parasagittal hindlimb movement  are some of those inherited traits. Living birds, however,  maintain an unusually crouched hindlimb posture and  locomotion powered by knee flexion, in contrast to the  inferred primitive condition of non-avian theropods: more  upright posture and limb movement powered by femur  retraction. Such functional differences, which are  associated with a gradual, anterior shift of the centre of  mass in theropods along the bird line, make the use of  extant birds to study non-avian theropod locomotion  problematic. Here we show that, by experimentally  manipulating the location of the centre of mass in living  birds, it is possible to recreate limb posture and  kinematics inferred for extinct bipedal dinosaurs. Chickens  raised wearing artificial tails, and consequently with more  posteriorly located centre of mass, showed a more vertical  orientation of the femur during standing and increased  femoral displacement during locomotion. Our results support  the hypothesis that gradual changes in the location of the  centre of mass resulted in more crouched hindlimb postures  and a shift from hip-driven to knee-driven limb movements  through theropod evolution. This study suggests that,  through careful experimental manipulations during the  growth phase of ontogeny, extant birds can potentially be  used to gain important insights into previously unexplored  aspects of bipedal non-avian theropod locomotion.</p>},
      url = {http://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/10801},
}