Editing Gait (section)

==Differences between species==
[[File:Gait-of-healthy-Hamster.ogv|200px|thumb|left|A hamster walking on a transparent treadmill.]] [[File:Alternating_Tripod_Gait.webm|200px|thumb|right|Alternating tripod gait of walking desert ants.]]

Animals typically use different gaits in a speed-dependent manner. Almost all animals are capable of symmetrical gaits, while asymmetrical gaits are largely confined to mammals, who are capable of enough spinal flexion to increase stride length (though small crocodilians are capable of using a bounding gait). Lateral sequence gaits during walking and running are most common in mammals,[3] but arboreal mammals such as monkeys, some opossums, and kinkajous use diagonal sequence walks for enhanced stability.[3] Diagonal sequence walks and runs (aka trots) are most frequently used by sprawling tetrapods such as salamanders and lizards, due to the lateral oscillations of their bodies during movement. Bipeds are a unique case, and most bipeds will display only three gaits—walking, running, and hopping—during natural locomotion. Other gaits, such as human skipping, are not used without deliberate effort.

Hexapod gaits have also been well characterized, particularly for drosophila and stick insects (Phasmatodea). Drosophila use a [[tripod gait]] where 3 legs swing together while 3 legs remain on the ground in stance.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Strauss R, Heisenberg M | title = Coordination of legs during straight walking and turning in Drosophila melanogaster | journal = Journal of Comparative Physiology A | volume = 167 | issue = 3 | pages = 403–12 | date = August 1990 | pmid = 2121965 | doi = 10.1007/BF00192575 | s2cid = 12965869 }}</ref> However, variability in gait is continuous. Flies do not show distinct transitions between gaits but are more likely to walk in a tripod configuration at higher speeds. At lower speeds, they are more likely to walk with 4 or 5 legs in stance.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = DeAngelis BD, Zavatone-Veth JA, Clark DA | title = Drosophila | journal = eLife | volume = 8 | date = June 2019 | pmid = 31250807 | pmc = 6598772 | doi = 10.7554/eLife.46409 | doi-access = free }}</ref> Tetrapod coordination (when 4 legs are in stance) is where diagonally opposite pairs of legs swing together. Wave (sometimes called a metachronal wave) describes walking where only 1 leg enters swing at a time. This movement propagates from back to front on one side of the body and then the opposite. Stick Insects, a larger hexapod, only shows a tripod gait during the larval stage. As adults at low speeds, they are most likely to walk in a metachronal wave, where only 1 leg swings at a time. At higher speeds, they walk in a tetrapod coordination with 2 legs paired in swing or a metachronal wave, only moving one leg at a time.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Ayali A, Borgmann A, Buschges A, Cousin-Fuchs E, Daun-Gruhn S, Holmes P| title = The comparative investigation of the stick insect and cockroach models in study of animal locomotion | journal = Current Opinion in Insect Science  | issue = 12 | pages = 1–10 | date = 2015 | doi = 10.1016/j.cois.2015.07.004 }}</ref>