Dynamics and Energetics of Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) Fluke-and-Glide Gait

Intermittent locomotion composed of periods of active flapping/stroking followed by inactive gliding has been observed with species that inhabit both aerial and marine environments. However, studies on the energetic benefits of a fluke-and-glide (FG) gait during horizontal locomotion are limited for dolphins. This work presents a physics-based model of FG gait and analysis of the associated costs of transport of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). New estimates of gliding drag coefficients for the model were estimated experimentally from free-swimming bottlenose dolphins. The data-driven approach used kinematic measurement from 84 hours of biologging tag data collected from 3 animals to estimate the coefficients. A set of 532 qualified gliding events were automatically extracted for gliding drag coefficient estimation, and an additional 783 FG bouts were parameterized and used to inform the model-based dynamic analysis. Experimental results indicate that FG gait was preferred at speeds around 2.2 - 2.7 m/s. Observed FG bouts had an average duty factor of 0.45 and gliding duration of 5 sec. The average associated metabolic cost of transport (COT) and mechanical cost of transport (MECOT) of FG gait are 2.53 and 0.35 J {middle dot} m-1 {middle dot} kg-1 at the preferred speeds. This corresponded to an 18.9% and 27.1% reduction in cost when compared to modeled continuous fluking gait at the same reference speed. Average thrust was positively correlated with fluking frequency and amplitude as animals accelerated during the FG bouts. While fluking frequency and amplitude were negatively correlated for a given thrust range. These results support the supposition that FG gait enhances the horizontal swimming efficiency of bottlenose dolphins and provides new dynamical insights into the gait of these animals.