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From: jespah@milton.u.washington.edu (Kathleen Hunt)
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Backward Locomotion in Large Land Animals
Message-ID: <11541@milton.u.washington.edu>
Date: 22 Nov 90 00:09:26 GMT
Distribution: sci.bio
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Lines: 36

From: gselias@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Skaff Elias)

*which animals are able to walk backward, and what about their anatomy
*or style of locomotion allows them to do so?

I am a bit puzzled by this question.  All quadrupeds can back
up, as far as I know.  I have seen elephants, horses, dogs, cats, and deer
definitely back up, but not very fast, and as soon as they could stop or
turn around, they did so.  I would think that all quadrupeds can at
least back themselves out of a tight place (say, a bunch of trees or
thick bushes) that they have gotten into accidentally.  Whether they can back
up rapidly, as a "gait", is a different question -- is this what 
you were asking?  (I was fascinated to hear about that horse that trots
backwards!)  I would suspect that animals with burrows and dens would
be especially well suited for rapid backing.

I once studied the rhinos at the Brookfield Zoo, and I am trying to 
remember if I ever saw them back up.  If only I'd been paying attention!  I
suppose I could just call up the zookeepers and ask -- you could try this
too.  Call up your local zoo and ask if they have rhinos and if so, can
you speak to a rhino keeper.  My main memory of the rhinos is of them 
gallumphing toward me because I was holding some bread for them.  No -- wait!
My other memory of the rhinos is of their filthy way of marking their 
territory, in which they BACK UP to a wall and spray feces and urine all over
it while twirling their tails.  So they can at least take a few steps 
backwards.

It just occurred to me that I can't recall ever seeing a bird walk backwards.
(Just because I can't recall it doesn't mean it can't happen, though!)  Seems
to me that when I've seen a bird get into a tight spot in whichh a quadruped 
might choose to back up, the bird will jump up and fly, instead.  This might
not be true for birds that scrounge around in very small, tunnel-like areas
under fallen leaves, though, like the Winter Wren for instance (_Troglodytes
troglodytes_, "Underground Dweller").

Kathleen Hunt