The relationship between maximum jumping performance and hind limb morphology/physiology in domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus)

SUMMARY A critical role of functional morphology is to demonstrate form—function relationships that can then be used by evolutionary biologists to infer the evolutionary history of the structure in question. Tests of theoretical expectations about the effects of many aspects of morphology/physiology on locomotor performance have had very mixed results. If systems such as jumping can be shown to reliably predict performance from morphology, this would provide a foundation upon which hypotheses for the evolutionary origin of certain morphologies can be generated. The present study examined whether a relationship exists between maximum takeoff velocity(TOV) and several carefully chosen morphological and physiological traits in domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus). Based on the contributions of extensor muscle work to increasing the kinetic and potential energy of the center of mass (CM) during takeoff, we predicted that maximum TOV would be dependent upon relative limb length, relative extensor muscle mass, body mass and the percentage of fast-twitch muscle fibers. Both maximum TOV and this series of traits were measured in 18 cats. We found that variation in cat maximum TOV is significantly explained by both hind limb length and fat mass relative to lean body mass, but not by extensor muscle mass relative to lean mass or fast-twitch fiber content. The effect of body fat mass is pervasive because it reduces the proportion of muscle mass/body mass and thus increases the muscle work invested in increasing the CM potential energy as compared with kinetic energy during takeoff.