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Downloaded from http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/ on June 17, 2017 rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org Research Cite this article: Konow N, Cheney JA, Roberts TJ, Waldman JRS, Swartz SM. 2015 Spring or string: does tendon elastic action influence wing muscle mechanics in bat flight? Proc. R. Soc. B 282: 20151832. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.1832 Received: 29 July 2015 Accepted: 1 September 2015 Spring or string: does tendon elastic action influence wing muscle mechanics in bat flight? Nicolai Konow1, Jorn A. Cheney1, Thomas J. Roberts1, J. Rhea S. Waldman1 and Sharon M. Swartz1,2 1 2 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Providence, RI 02912, USA School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA Tendon springs influence locomotor movements in many terrestrial animals, but their roles in locomotion through fluids as well as in small-bodied mammals are less clear. We measured muscle, tendon and joint mechanics in an elbow extensor of a small fruit bat during ascending flight. At the end of downstroke, the tendon was stretched by elbow flexion as the wing was folded. At the end of upstroke, elastic energy was recovered via tendon recoil and extended the elbow, contributing to unfurling the wing for downstroke. Compared with a hypothetical ‘string-like’ system lacking series elastic compliance, the tendon spring conferred a 22.5% decrease in muscle fascicle strain magnitude. Our findings demonstrate tendon elastic action in a small flying mammal and expand our understanding of the occurrence and action of series elastic actuator mechanisms in fluid-based locomotion. Subject Areas: biomechanics, physiology Keywords: biomechanics, elastic energy storage, biological springs, bioinspiration, flight Author for correspondence: Nicolai Konow e-mail: [email protected] Electronic supplementary material is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.1832 or via http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org. 1. Introduction When the limbs of terrestrial animals collide with the ground during locomotion, the rapid rise in limb muscle force often leads to stretch of the tendons that connect muscles to the bones they move [1 –4]. By operating as biological springs, compliant tendons play several well-known and important roles in terrestrial locomotion, all involving relaxation of the temporal relationship between muscle contraction and joint movement [2,5] (figure 1). For instance, the elastic stretch and recoil of series elastic elements allows muscle to operate at contraction speeds favourable for force and power production [2,5], and facilitates recovery of mechanical energy with each stride during running and hopping [3,6 –9]. Elastic mechanisms are widespread among large running animals [2,4,7,9], but the limb muscles of small mammals (less than 1 kg) may not generate sufficient force to stretch their tendons, which often are relatively thick and stiff [1,10–12]. Wings and fins interact with their fluid environments without collisional impact, preventing impact-driven tendon stretch during flight and swimming. However, evidence suggests that tendons store and recover energy to decelerate and reaccelerate limb elements during cyclic movements in aerial and aquatic locomotion [13–15], and tendon action could contribute up to 60% of the net mechanical work for wing upstroke in pigeons [16]. In addition to the potential role of tendon in energy storage and recovery, there may be other benefits to transmitting muscle force via tendons. Elongated tendons allow muscles to be positioned proximally, and the concentration of muscle mass near the limb centre of rotation decreases the mass moment of inertia of the limb [2,17]. This may be a particularly important trait in bats, which rapidly oscillate heavy wings and thus incur non-negligible inertial costs during flight [18– 20]. We combined X-ray-based three-dimensional high-speed visualization and modelling techniques with tissue mechanical testing to study an elbow extensor muscle, the monoarticular lateral head of triceps brachii, during ascending flight in the phyllostomid fruit bat Carollia perspicillata (electronic supplementary & 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. Downloaded from http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/ on June 17, 2017 (a) lm lm q (b) q lm lm lt t0 t1 t2 q material, movies S1 and S2). We asked if the tendon of triceps acts elastically to let joint extension occur at a delay from muscle shortening, or inelastically to transfer movement directly, like a servo cable in an aircraft wing. The latter finding would be consistent with the hypothesis that small mammals have relatively stiff tendons [1,11]. We predicted that if the tendon is relatively stiff, the muscle fascicles of triceps would lengthen during elbow flexion, and elbow extension would occur during muscle fascicle shortening (figure 1a). Alternatively, if the tendon is relatively compliant, its stretch during muscle contraction would be out of phase with muscle length change and joint motion (figure 1b). To test between these alternatives, we compared direct in vivo measurements of muscle fascicle length change measured by fluoromicrometry [21] to the strain of the whole muscle tendon unit (MTU), measured from three-dimensional models generated using X-ray reconstruction of moving morphology (XROMM) [21–23] (figure 2a–f and electronic supplementary material, movie S3). 2. Methods (a) Subjects and experiment design Four similarly sized male C. perspicillata (Seba’s short-tailed bat; body mass of 16.1, 18.2, 18.7 and 19.1 g with wingspans ranging from 293 to 297 mm) were used in this study. All experiments and animal husbandry complied with a protocol approved by the Brown University IACUC and with USDA regulations. Ascending flight trials were elicited within a vertically oriented thin-walled plastic cylinder (diameter: 400 mm, height: 600 mm), which helped confine subject movements to the spherical imaging volume (diameter: 220 mm) of the biplanar high-speed fluoroscopy system. Following flight training within this arena, subjects were anaesthetized via facemask (isoflurane, 1–2.5%; O2, 0.8 l min21), surfaces for skin incisions were depilated (Veet), and radio-opaque tantalum spheres were implanted during sterile procedures. (b) Focus muscle and instrumentation Muscle length was measured in vivo using three-dimensional motion tracking of 0.5 mm tantalum spheres implanted at the myotendinous junctions of the lateral head of triceps brachii, a (c) Post-mortem data acquisition To obtain XROMM reconstruction of in vivo movement of the scapula, humerus and radius (figure 2; electronic supplementary material, movie S2), we obtained mCT scans. One scan came from the American Museum of Natural History (29 mm isovolumetric voxels, GE phoenix vjtomejx s240) while the other three bats were scanned at Stony Brook University (36 mm isovolumetric voxels, Scanco mCT40; n ¼ 3). The scans were segmented in OsiriX and registered to the digitized three-dimensional marker constellations using a combination of marker-based XROMM [22] and scientific rotoscoping workflows [23]. The precision for conventional marker-based XROMM has been calculated to be 0.1 mm based on the standard deviation of rigid body intermarker distances [22]. To reconstruct scapula and humerus position in the small bats studied here, we increased the spatial resolution of the X-ray system to 4.0 lp mm21 (measured using a line-pair graticule), by using high magnification (Mag II), at the expense of visualization volume. The error in rigid-body reconstruction and muscle marker position for a given flight sequence was estimated using the standard deviation for intermarker distance, which depends on the bone and marker. For the in-dwelling bone markers, mean precision was 0.076 mm (range: 0.096–0.062 mm); for the twist-tied laser-perforated markers, mean precision was 0.050 mm (range: 0.500–0.021 mm; n ¼ 4 bats). Instantaneous MTU length was measured in MAYA (Autodesk) as each XROMM reconstruction moved through in vivo elbow positions from 48 ascending flight wingbeats in three subjects. MTU length was measured with locators parented to the triceps muscle scar on the proximal humerus, and to the sesamoid insertion onto the olecranon, superficial and proximal to the elbow joint. XROMM models and fluoromicrometry data were then used to digitally calculate the relationship between triceps MTU displacement and elbow joint position. For one bat, XROMM reconstructions were not possible because of marker collinearity issues (see [22] for further explanation of this phenomenon). For this bat, the relationship between MTU excursion and joint position was determined in a tendon travel experiment [25]. Linear regressions of MTU length change (mm) against elbow joint position (radians) revealed a linear relationship across the operational range of the muscle for all individuals (electronic supplementary material, figure S2). We used the slope of the regression line to calculate MTU length for the 81 wingbeats that were not reconstructed using XROMM models but for which elbow flexion–extension kinematics were measured via three-dimensional motion tracking of bone markers. The vertical position of the wrist was used to identify reversal points between upstroke and downstroke for all wingbeats. To explore the phase relationship between stretch–shortening of the triceps muscle and flexion –extension of the elbow, we used analyses of Proc. R. Soc. B 282: 20151832 Figure 1. Schematic of direct position control versus series elastic actuator control of joint position. (a) The length, lm, of a monoarticular extensor muscle without significant series elastic compliance, or without tendon, must increase during a decrease in joint angle, u ( joint flexion), and decrease during an increase in joint angle ( joint extension). (b) The relationship between muscle length change and joint motion can be relaxed by tendon compliance; here, total muscle – tendon unit length is the sum of muscle fascicle length, lm, and length of a compliant tendon, lt; when the joint flexes, u decreases, but muscle fascicle length does not increase. The graphs on the right illustrate predictions for the relationship between muscle length and joint position in a stiff (a) versus a compliant (b) system. 2 rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org q monoarticular elbow extensor with near-parallel-fibred architecture. Tantalum spheres (0.4 mm) were also implanted into the humerus and radius to reconstruct wingbeat kinematics and muscle– tendon unit length. The medial border and acromion process of the scapula were marked by piercing the approximately 0.4 mm thick bone with 26G hypodermic needles, threading 30G silver wires through the bone perforation and twist-tying 1.0 mm laserperforated tantalum spheres tightly to the bone (electronic supplementary material, figure S1). During ascending flight, biplanar recordings of marker positions were taken using two high-resolution (1760 1760 pixel), high-speed (330 fps) cameras recording at 500 ms shutter speed through two X-ray systems (X-ray technique: 53–55 kV; 250 mA; 145 cm SID). Muscle activity was measured from the triceps lateral head using fine-wire electromyography [24]. Elbow kinematics were calculated from tracked wing bone markers, and muscle length change trajectory was calculated via fluoromicrometry [21] from the myotendinous junction markers. Downloaded from http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/ on June 17, 2017 (a) 3 (f ) rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org q (g) 60 (b) qelbow(°) 10 mm 80 100 140 Lmtu (mm) (c) Lmuscle (mm) (i) (e) ( j) speed (Lm,r s–1) (d) 25.6 16.8 25.2 16.4 24.8 16.0 Ltendon (mm) 17.2 26.0 12 111 10 0.6 9 0 EMG (mV) (h) 6 3 shortening 0 –3 lengthening –6 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40 time (s) Figure 2. XROMM reconstruction of bat wing movements, and measurements of elbow joint motion and triceps muscle tendon mechanical function during flight. (a – e) Frames from orthogonal high-speed videofluoroscopy (left column, dorsal; right column, lateral; see also the electronic supplementary material, movie S2). Dark circles are radio-opaque markers, implanted in bone and at myotendinous junctions; mCT bone scans are registered to marker positions in X-ray images (semitransparent in a). Cable carries electromyographic signals. (a) Mid-upstroke. (b) Early elbow extension. (c) Late elbow extension. (d ) Early elbow flexion. (e) Late elbow flexion. (f ) Dorsal view of XROMM reconstruction (a,c,d,e), with scapula held in fixed position. (g) Elbow joint angle. (h) MTU length (black line, from circle markers in f ) and tendon length (blue line). (i) Muscle fascicle length (red line) and rectified EMG. ( j ) Speed of length change (negative values are lengthening) for tendon (blue) and MTU (black), expressed in resting muscle lengths (Lm,r) per second. Grey bars indicate downstroke. cross-covariance on muscle length and elbow position, cropped to individual wingbeats (n ¼ 66). (d) Tendon mechanical testing We performed tendon mechanical testing to compare mechanical properties of the tendons with their in vivo mechanical behaviour; methodology followed a published study [26]. Briefly, MTUs (n ¼ 15) were excised from bats that had been frozen shortly after death. The three head muscle complex was dissected in isotonic saline and pennation angle, muscle fascicle length and muscle mass were measured for each head to calculate muscle physiological cross-sectional area (PCSA) [27]. Theoretical peak isometric muscle force, achievable if the muscle complex was simultaneously and maximally activated during an isometric contraction, was calculated as the product of PCSA (0.093 + 0.009 cm2; n ¼ 15 muscle complexes) and a reasonable estimate of specific tension for mammalian skeletal muscle of 230 kPa [27]. This value was chosen from the wide range of published values because it came from fast-fibred cat muscle, and bat flight muscles are composed mainly of fast fibres [28]. During mechanical testing, the proximal tendon sheet was secured in a fixed clamp and a stiff Kevlar line anchored the distal sesamoid to the lever of an ergometer (Aurora Scientific, 305B-LR). Markers for motion tracking were painted on the free tendon using a fine ink pen. Each tendon was subjected to 19 stretch–shortening cycles (90 s cycle duration, 12.5% L0). Figure 5 shows the penultimate period of stretch for seven tendon specimens for which testing was successful. Each trial was video recorded (Photron Fastcam 1024 PCI). Surface marker positions were digitized frame by frame in XRAYPROJECT [22] to calculate instantaneous tendon strain during ramp lengthening, free from artefact owing to tendon slippage or end effects. After testing, tendons were embedded in cryohistological medium, and 15 mm thick cross sections were taken on a cryotome and photographed. Tendon cross-sectional area (0.34 + 0.04 mm2) was measured in IMAGEJ as the average of seven measurements from tendon sections where rupture did not occur (n ¼ 15). The agreement between in vivo estimates of tendon mechanical behaviour and tendon behaviour predicted from mechanical testing and estimated muscle stress was then assessed. This was done by comparing in vitro measurements of tendon stress versus strain with in vivo estimates of Proc. R. Soc. B 282: 20151832 120 Downloaded from http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/ on June 17, 2017 tendon strain from the XROMM model versus peak isometric muscle force for the three muscle heads of triceps. (a) 4 1.22 4. Discussion The main goal of our study was to determine the mechanical function of a bat wing tendon: bat wing bones are highly elongated [29], and wing muscles such as triceps insert via tendons that appear elongated compared with those of other small non-volant mammals. The influence of tendon compliance is apparent in the phase lag between muscle fascicle strain and joint angle (illustrated schematically in figure 1b), which is 17% of the wingbeat cycle on average (figure 4). The pattern of strain is also different for the triceps muscle fascicles and the MTU, indicating that much of the elbow joint motion is owing to tendon action rather than due to muscle fascicle length change (figure 3). We suggest that stretch of the tendon owing to elbow flexion may cause a eØ = 29% Lm/Lr 1.00 0.89 i iii iv n = 19 0.78 (b) Proc. R. Soc. B 282: 20151832 1.22 1.00 eØ = 23% Lm/Lr 1.11 0.89 n = 18 0.78 (c) 1.22 1.00 0.89 eØ = 24% Lm/Lr 1.11 n = 27 0.78 (d) 1.22 1.00 eØ = 14% 1.11 Lm/Lr XROMM modelling revealed the expected stretch– shortening cycle pattern for a monoarticular extensor MTU: lengthening during elbow flexion and shortening during elbow extension (figure 2g,h). The elbow underwent excursion of 59 + 148 (mean + s.d.), and the length change of the MTU was 1.7 + 0.3 mm (6.5 + 0.8% strain). The observed change in muscle fascicle length 1.2 + 0.2 mm (16.7 + 0.45% strain; figure 2i) was significantly less than the change in length of the whole MTU (repeated-measures ANOVA; F3,118 ¼ 45.52; p , 0.001). The pattern of muscle fascicle length change differed substantially from the patterns of MTU stretch–shortening and elbow flexion–extension (figure 2g–i). The relationship between muscle fascicle length and elbow joint position showed distinct phases for all bats (figure 3). In three bats (figure 3a–c), four distinct phases were apparent: (i) initiation of elbow flexion, which coincided with stretch of the muscle fascicles; (ii) the primary phase of elbow flexion, during which the muscle fascicles remained near-isometric and the tendon underwent the majority of stretch; (iii) initiation of elbow extension, during which the muscle fascicles shortened; and (iv) the primary phase of elbow extension, coincident with near-constant or slightly increasing muscle fascicle length, the main period of tendon recoil. In one bat (figure 3d), phase (iii) was defined by muscle shortening, not by joint extension and phase (iv) was prolonged, so that the majority of elbow extension occurred with the muscle fascicles remaining near-isometric. Electromyographic recordings (figure 2i) showed that the triceps was activated during phase (ii) (mid-upstroke) and remained active throughout phase (iv) (downstroke – upstroke transition). A cross-covariance analysis of the phase-relationship between muscle length change and joint motion showed that elbow flexion–extension lagged stretch– shortening of the triceps muscle fascicles by 17 + 7% of the wingbeat duration (n ¼ 66 wingbeats; figure 4). During elbow flexion, the tendon stretched 9.1 + 1.7% (figure 2h). The lengthening strains observed in the tendon in vivo fell within the range predicted based on ex vivo measurements of tendon stress–strain behaviour and calculations of peak isometric force based on muscle PCSA (2.1 + 0.31 N; mean + s.d., n ¼ 15 muscles; figure 5). ii 0.89 n = 22 0.78 40 rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org 1.11 3. Results 60 80 100 qelbow(°) 120 140 Figure 3. Relationship between triceps muscle length and elbow angle during ascending flight. Data from four C. perspicillata individuals (a – d) for a total of 86 wingbeats. Muscle length is normalized by its resting length. Coloured dashed lines indicate the robust means regression relationship between triceps MTU length change and elbow angle (electronic supplementary material, figure S2). This regression also predicts the relationship between muscle length and elbow angle for an MTU with a non-compliant tendon (i.e. a stiff system). Grey projections to the y-axes (and dashed arrows in a) indicate the muscle fascicle length change required in a stiff system to actuate the average amount of elbow joint motion observed in vivo. Vertical double-arrows indicate the mean shortening of triceps muscle fascicles across wingbeats. The magnitude of muscle shortening relative to the predicted value for the condition of no tendon compliance, epsilon, was 22.5% lower, averaged over all individuals and trials. Downloaded from http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/ on June 17, 2017 elbow extension speed (Kdeg s–1) 22 111 3 50 2 25 1 n = 48 0 0 0 0.025 0.050 0.075 0.100 tendon strain (DL – Lr /Lr) peak isometric force (N) 75 n = 15 tendon stress (MPa) Figure 4. Frequency distribution (expressed as % of wingbeats) of phase lags (given in % of wingbeat duration) measured between triceps muscle fascicle length change and elbow joint position waveforms in 66 wingbeats across n ¼ 4 bats. Vertical dashed line indicates zero lag as expected for a stiff system. Data to the right of this line represent muscle shortening prior to joint extension. 0.125 Figure 5. Quasi-static mechanical testing of tendons. In C. perspicillata, the triceps complex comprises three muscle heads that insert via a common tendon and stress–strain curves are shown for seven such tendons (identified by colour). Circles indicate tendon strain corresponding to the estimated peak isometric force for the muscle complex. Grey projection to y-axis indicates the peak isometric force range for the set of seven muscle complexes. The vertical box plot provides peak isometric force values for an additional sample of 15 triceps muscle complexes where tendon stress–strain data were not obtained. Grey projection to x-axis indicates the predicted range of tendon strains based on this set of values. Horizontal box plot shows in vivo tendon strains, as calculated from XROMM models of 48 ascending flight wingbeats. reduction in the magnitude of muscle-shortening strain to generate elbow extension by 22.5% on average compared with a hypothetical stiff system lacking tendon compliance (figure 3). Because of the relaxation of the temporal link between muscle contraction and joint motion, the rate of elbow extension remains high (1511 + 3178 s21), regardless of the mode of muscle contraction during elbow extension (figure 6). (a) Mechanical action of tendon in flight Our measurements support the hypothesis that elastic action of the triceps tendon in C. perspicillata recycles mechanical energy across stroke transitions during ascending flight. The observed patterns of elbow motion and tendon length change indicate that energy is loaded into the tendon by forces associated with deceleration of the wing during elbow flexion late in downstroke. Although the patterns appear consistent with tendon loading by inertial forces, we cannot discriminate between contributions from inertial, aerodynamic 5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0 –10 lengthening shortening –5 5 0 muscle speed (Lm s–1) 10 Figure 6. Tendon elastic action relaxes the relationship between speed of elbow extension and triceps muscle contraction during upstroke of ascending flight. Mean elbow extension speed plotted against mean muscle fascicle contraction speed (n ¼ 107 wingbeats, circles). The vertical dotted line indicates isometric muscle behaviour, and the dashed line shows the relationship for non-compliant tendon, where the speed of muscle shortening is directly linked to elbow extension speed. and antagonist muscle force. The muscle fascicles generate tension during the transition between downstroke and upstroke, which allows energy to be stored in the tendon, and muscle contraction may contribute further energy storage. Energy is released via tendon recoil to power elbow extension during late upstroke, a critical element in positioning the wing for generating aerodynamic force production during downstroke. Bats may not be the only animals to use elastic energy storage in wing muscles. A study of the pigeon humerotriceps, the evolutionary homologue of the muscle studied here, provided similar evidence of a phase lag between elbow motion and muscle fascicle length change, indicating that elbow flexion occurs with near-isometric muscle fascicles [15]. This phase lag suggests an influence of tendon elasticity, as hypothesized previously [30,31]. An important role for tendon elasticity in the primary elevator of the wing, the supracoracoideus, has also been shown in pigeons. Shortening of supracoracoideus muscle fascicles precedes the initiation of upstroke by greater than 10% of the wingbeat cycle, indicating that stretch and recoil of the slender tendon helps power upstroke [16]. In other flight muscles, there appears to be little role for tendon elastic action. In the avian pectoralis, the relationship between muscle fascicle length and joint position is relatively direct, a finding that is consistent with limited series elastic compliance [15,16,32,33]. In this stiff system, near-direct transmission of muscle strain to joint motion means that the pectoralis acts primarily as a controller of wing element position (figure 1a). By contrast, our results suggest that the bat triceps acts as a force controller (figure 1b), where joint motion emerges from the mechanical action of compliant tendon [34]. Although many other wing muscles in bats and birds also insert via long tendons, it is important to note that tendon presence alone is not sufficient to establish that significant elastic energy storage and recovery occurs. Many tendons are too stiff relative to the force generation capacity of their muscle to lead to significant recovery of mechanical energy [11]. For example, the mallard gastrocnemius tendon shows only slight evidence of elastic energy recovery during swimming and running, because the gastrocnemius musculature Proc. R. Soc. B 282: 20151832 0 –30 –20 –10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 % wingbeat duration 2.5 rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org % of wingbeats 33 Downloaded from http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/ on June 17, 2017 (b) Force- versus position-based control of jointed systems Ethics. All experiments and animal husbandry complied with a proto- Our finding in bats of a phase lag between muscle contraction and joint movement of 17% wingbeat duration (figure 4) indicates that the mechanical function is more likely to be force- than position-based. Human-engineered jointed systems typically rely on direct position control (figure 1a), because designs that avoid compliant elements in series with the actuator tend to simplify the control algorithms. However, an actuator in series with a spring (figure 1b) allows for a force-based control strategy that provides several potential advantages over direct position control [2,34]. These advantages have only recently been harnessed in designs of ground-locomoting robots [40]. The possible advantages of series elastic compliance could be valuable for bioinspiration Data accessibility. Data used in this study are available from the XMA 5. Conclusion A tendon spring in the bat wing relaxes the temporal link between triceps muscle fascicle shortening and elbow joint motion, resulting in storage of inertial energy associated with wing element deceleration. Tendon elastic energy is then recovered to aid in elbow extension. The series elastic compliance in this system also reduces the muscle-shortening strain required to extend the elbow. These findings broaden our knowledge about the occurrence and function of biological springs by providing a robust demonstration of the importance of recovery of elastic energy from a limb muscle tendon to effect fluid-based locomotion in a small mammal. Detailed modelling could be employed in future studies to quantitatively estimate energy stored and released in bat wing muscle tendons. col approved by the Brown University IACUC and with USDA regulations. portal at http://tinyurl.com/nqg9jzz Competing interests. We declare that we have no competing interests. Funding. Supported by AFOSR (FA9550-12-1-0301, monitored by P. Bradshaw to S.M.S. and T.J.R.) and the National Science Foundation (IOS 1145549 to S.M.S.). Acknowledgements. E. Tavares, E. Longman, M. L. Hedberg and the Brown University Animal Care Facility staff assisted with animal husbandry and experiments. H. Walker, M. O’Connor, D. Podlisny, E. Longman and L. Wyatt digitized videos. D. Boerma and R. Brown assisted with rotoscoping. I. Wallace, Stony Brook University, and N. Simmons, American Museum of Natural History, generously provided mCT scans. We thank C. Anderson, C. Arellano, J. Bahlman, D. Boerma, R. Carney, D. Sustaita and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on a draft of the manuscript. References 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Pollock CM, Shadwick RE. 1994 Relationship between body mass and biomechanical properties of limb tendons in adult mammals. Am. J. Physiol. 266, R1016–R1021. Alexander RM. 2002 Tendon elasticity and muscle function. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. A, Mol. Integr. 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B 282: 20151832 with the accelerating development of small flying robots and autonomous flapping micro air-vehicles. rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org does not generate high enough forces to load energy into the tendon [35]. More broadly, it has been suggested that the limb tendons of small mammals tend to be mechanically ‘overbuilt’ because of scaling patterns and that the associated low tendon strains limits the role of elastic energy recovery in small animals [11,12,36,37]. However, this suggestion is not supported by our results for the bat triceps tendon. In addition, long tendons decrease the limb mass moment of inertia [2,17] and can contribute to reducing inertial costs, which may be important during flight [18–20]. Hence, the presence of long tendons, compliant or not, probably benefits the mechanical function of vertebrate wings. In undulating swimmers, a role for tendon action in energy recycling across stroke transitions has been hypothesized for tail tendons. 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