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Tripoding
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A tripod stance is a behaviour in which quadraped animals rear up on their hind legs and use their tail to support this position. Several animals use this behaviour to improve observation or surveillance, and during feeding, grooming, thermoregulation, or fighting. Monitor lizards such as the Komodo dragon quite commonly stand on a tripod formed by their hind legs and tail. The common dwarf mongoose also adopts a tripod stance when checking for predators. Some dinosaurs may also have occasionally adopted a tripod stance. Macropods can stand erect on their hind legs, supported by their tail as the third leg of the tripod. Macropods also engage in "pentapedal locomotion," an energy-inefficient gait used at slow speed, in which "the tail is used, with the forelimbs, as the third leg of a tripod to support the animal while the large hind limbs are moved forward." |
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