Studies have shown that animals must have a moderate physique that is neither too big nor too small to run at the fastest pace.
A study by Miriam Hertz, a zoologist at the Leipzig Integrated Biodiversity Research Center in Leipzig, Germany, focused on certain types of animals, such as mammals, and found that the results were meaningful in mammals of limited size.
The team, led by Hertz, collected data on 474 cold and warm blood species ranging from 30 micrograms to 100 tons, comparing animal speed and mass.
As a result, we found that the speed limit was not due to biomechanics or the arrangement of animals. The researchers also concluded that the differences in the speed of the animals are a matter of metabolism.
Larger animals have larger and heavier muscles, so more energy is needed to get the maximum speed.
On the other hand, medium-sized animals are small in size, so they have a relatively low energy requirement and can accumulate a lot of energy. Among middle-sized animals, muscles of the legs are equipped with strong muscles, but the muscle size can run as fast as it is small enough to move.
John Hutchinson, an evolutionary biologist at the Royal College of Veterinary Medicine in Hertfordshire, UK, said, "There is great difficulty finding the overall concept of limiting acceleration."
