<\/p>
Dragon lizards, such as the frilled-necked lizard Chlamydosaurus kingii and the South American basilisk lizard Basiliscus basiliscus, readily run on their hindlimbs. Though other two-legged groups, such as primates, dinosaurs and birds, use their forelimbs for grasping or flight, this is not the case for lizards \u2013 so why don\u2019t they all run on four legs?<\/p>\n
Originally, it was thought that bipedalism provided a speed advantage, since the front limbs were no longer getting in the way of the hindlimbs. But, when measured, the speed of two-legged strides proved to be no greater than that of four-legged ones.<\/p>\n
Other scientists theorised that running on two legs would save the lizards energy, yet those that travelled on two legs could not keep up with ones that ran on all four.<\/p>\n
However, mathematical modelling of small lizards has suggested a new answer: bipedalism in lizards may be an accidental consequence of acceleration. Forward acceleration at the hindlegs pushes the rear body forward, but the inertia of the front of the body wants it to stay put. As a result, the back legs want to run under the body, which causes the front end to rise \u2013 just like a motorcycle popping a wheelie.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> Main image: Illustration of a the frilled-necked lizard Chlamydosaurus kingii \u00a9 Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/body><\/html>\n By BBC Wildlife Magazine Published: Monday, 07 November 2022 at 12:00 am Dragon lizards, such as the frilled-necked lizard Chlamydosaurus kingii and the South American basilisk lizard Basiliscus basiliscus, readily run on their hindlimbs. Though other two-legged groups, such as primates, dinosaurs and birds, use their forelimbs for grasping or flight, this is not the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":22203,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/11\/why-do-lizards-run-on-two-legs.jpg",2208,1357,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/11\/why-do-lizards-run-on-two-legs-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/11\/why-do-lizards-run-on-two-legs-300x184.jpg",300,184,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/11\/why-do-lizards-run-on-two-legs-768x472.jpg",768,472,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/11\/why-do-lizards-run-on-two-legs-1024x629.jpg",800,491,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/11\/why-do-lizards-run-on-two-legs-1536x944.jpg",1536,944,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/11\/why-do-lizards-run-on-two-legs-2048x1259.jpg",2048,1259,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By BBC Wildlife Magazine Published: Monday, 07 November 2022 at 12:00 am Dragon lizards, such as the frilled-necked lizard Chlamydosaurus kingii and the South American basilisk lizard Basiliscus basiliscus, readily run on their hindlimbs. Though other two-legged groups, such as primates, dinosaurs and birds, use their forelimbs for grasping or flight, this is not the…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/22202"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}More fascinating lizard facts<\/h4>\n
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