The alligators travel at just 1kph, for three to five minutes at a time

Peter Bohler


Alligators, crocodiles and gharials aren't known for their easygoing nature, and they're even less friendly if you force them to run on a treadmill. But it's worth it, because watching crocodilians exercise might teach us how dinosaurs breathed.

To get American alligators to walk on the treadmill in his lab at California State University, San Bernardino, vertebrate physiologist Tomasz Owerkowicz has to tap the base of their tails. Otherwise they'll just lie there -- until the moving belt dumps them off. "It's like making your kid go outside to play when all she wants to do is lie on the sofa," he says. 

Owerkowicz and his colleagues put crocodilians through boot camp to study how their diaphragms work. The piston-like action of the muscle displaces the guts, allowing a quicker intake of breath. 

Anatomists used to think this resulted in a massive flow of oxygen to the lungs, for times of increased activity. But after monitoring the reptiles, the researchers found that although the piston-pump action kicked in during exercise, it didn't significantly improve overall air intake. Owerkowicz suspects the same was true for dinosaurs, which likely shared some physiology with their distant cousins. As well as an aversion to jogging.


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