How the penguin got its waddle
A recent experiment at the London Zoo undertaken by Professor John Hutchinson and James Proffit (of the University of Texas at Austin) is featured in The New Yorker. The experiment involved recording the forces that penguins exerted with their limbs against the ground as they walked along a corridor in their enclosure. The aim was to obtain a complete biomechanical picture of walking in penguins, looking at how their bones, ligaments and muscles produce penguins’ distinctive off-kilter gait.