RIZAL TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

BONIFACIO AVENUE, CITY OF MANDALUYONG

DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY

Chapter 6. Muscles and Animal Movement

Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus)

Electric Eel (Electrophorus electricus)
European Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula
Hypoleuca)

Animal Physiology

SUBMITTED BY:
RAZON, Angela Mae M.

SUBMITTED TO:
Prof. Marita Geroy

BS-BIOLOGY CAS-02-601A
TUESDAY & FRIDAY (1:30PM – 3:00 PM)

MAY 10, 2022

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 I. Terrestrial Animal
Koala (Phascolarctos Cinereus)

Scientific Name
Phascolarctos Cinereus
Genus: Phascolarcto – phaskolos meaning pouched; arktos meaning bear (derived from Greek).
Species: cinereus meaning ashy-grey (derived from Latin).

Figure 1. Koala
Koala’s Movement

Koalas have strong arms, powerful legs and sharp claws suitable for climbing trees. Koalas are
arboreal (tree dwelling) mammals, however, they do climb down to the ground to move between trees.
When koalas are on the ground, they walk slowly as they are poorly adapted to walking on the ground,
however when disturbed koalas can break into a bounding gallop, moving at speeds of up to 30km per
hour.

Figure 2. Koala’s Claws

They have two opposable thumbs on their fore paws, allowing them a better grip—essential for
climbing smooth barked gum trees. When climbing, koalas leave behind characteristic scratches in the
bark, which remain visible until the bark is shed each year, allowing you to gauge how frequently
koalas use that particular tree. Stringybark trees that have been regularly climbed by koalas will also
have the outer layer of weathered bark scratched away, exposing the fresh layer beneath.

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Locomotion

The Koala is often viewed as a clumsy and sluggish creature, which clings to branches by its
modified feet. This view is conditioned by the most common experience of the animal in captivity or
occasional glimpses in the wild, which are mostly of individuals resting high up in trees during daylight
hours. While the animal usually moves at a sedate pace, the proportionately very long limbs can propel
the animal rapidly over the ground or up the trunks of small and very large trees alike.
Koalas walk by moving the diagonally opposite limbs alternately and run by moving the forelimbs
and then the hind limbs in unison. The extended digits and the palm adjacent to the digits touch the
ground as does the entire hind foot, with the toes extended and the hallux held at right angles to the
axis of the foot. When climbing, the hands are released with the arms extended and the body is thrust
upwards by extending the hind limbs, permitting the hands to clasp at a new level. A description of the
limb musculature of the Koala, although some care is required when making comparisons with modern
descriptions of other mammals due to changes in terminology. The most distinctive features to emerge
from this study are that no patella, even a cartilaginous one, is present; the deltoid muscle is completely
undivided; the cleido-occipital muscle is absent and the ‘omo-trachelian’ muscle (presumably
synonymous with the term omo-atlantic used in the body of his paper) has only a single insertion on
the outer part of the spine of the scapula.

II. Aquatic Animal

Electric Eel (Electrophorus electricus)

Figure 3. Electrophorus electricus

The electric eel has a slender, snake-like body and flattened head. Its thick, scaleless skin is
generally dark gray to brown, and its underside is a yellow-orange color. Similar to other eel shaped
fish, the electric eel lacks pelvic fins. It has a small, or reduced, caudal fin and also lacks dorsal fins.
Instead, an elongated anal fin helps it maneuver through the water, where it can swim forward,
backward or hover, as it searches for prey. Three specialized electric organs such as the main electrical
organ, the Hunter’s organ and the Sachs’ organ that make up about 80 percent of this fish’s body. Its
remaining vital organs are tightly packed within the anterior, or front, part of its body.

Moreover, the electric organs create strong and weak electric charges, which are utilized for
defense, hunting, communication and navigation. Stronger electric charges can be energetically
exhausting for this fish. Its strongest electric pulses are produced by the main electrical organ, as well
as two-thirds of the Hunter’s organ. The remainder of the Hunter’s organ and the Sachs’ organ produce
the weaker electric discharges.

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Electric Eel Movement

Figure 4. Eel-induced muscle tension measurements in prey

The electric eel’s anal fin extends from the tip of the tail nearly to the chin. Fluttering like a
ribbon, it allows the fish to move forward and backward with ease. Eel electrocytes are derived from
muscles and innervated by motor neurons, the eel’s motor neuron output (and therefore its EOD) might
be constrained in a manner similar to that of a wide range of neuromuscular systems. Put another way,
the similarity between the starting of an eel’s EOD and the optimal motor neuron train found for
maximal muscle activation could reflect a constraint on both systems at peak power output. And yet
this seems unlikely, given the incredible variation in the form and rate of EOD’s exhibited by a
diversity of electric fish. Moreover, electric eels have another way of remotely controlling prey that
also seems to make use of an optimal strategy.

The mechanism by which electric eels generate either a weak EOD or a strong EOD has been
determined in some detail. Given the similar form of the two outputs, it is perhaps not surprising that
the weak EOD is emitted by simply activating a subset of the eel’s electrocytes (the eel’s electrocytes
are divided among three different electric organs which are referred to here as the eel’s electric organ
for simplicity). Surprisingly, an action potential is sent to every electrocyte in the eel’s body when the
weak EOD is emitted. But for the majority of electrocytes, the excitatory post-synaptic potentials are
sub-threshold and do not result in an electrocyte action potential. Thus the weak EOD is the result of a
subset of low-threshold electrocytes that can be activated by a single motor neuron action potential.
The high-voltage EOD is emitted simply by sending a very high rate of action potentials to all of the
same electrocytes. This, in turn, results in temporal summation in the higher-threshold electrocytes
such that every electrocyte in the eel’s body is activated. As a result of this simple mechanism for
generating EODs of two different strengths, every high-voltage volley is (necessarily) immediately
preceded by a single low-voltage, weak EOD.

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 III. Avian Animal
European Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca)

Figure 5. Ficedula hypoleuca

The European pied flycatcher is a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family. One
of the four species of Western Palearctic black-and-white flycatchers, it hybridizes to a limited extent
with the collared flycatcher. It breeds in most of Europe and across the Western Palearctic. It is
migratory, wintering mainly in tropical Africa. It usually builds its nests in holes on oak trees. This
species practices polygyny, usually bigamy, with the male travelling large distances to acquire a second
mate. The male will mate with the secondary female and then return to the primary female in order to
help with aspects of child rearing, such as feeding. The European pied flycatcher is mainly
insectivorous, although its diet also includes other arthropods. This species commonly feeds on spiders,
ants, bees and similar prey.

The main diet of the European pied flycatcher is insects. In fact, their name comes from their
habit of catching flying insects, but they also catch insects or arthropods from tree trunks, branches, or
from the ground. Studies have found that the majority of food catches were made from the ground.
Also, pied flycatchers often catch their prey in the air. They are insectivorous and eat many types of
invertebrates, including beetles, spiders, and caterpillars. They also eat flies, ants, bees, and wasps,
moths and their larvae. Individuals in populations in polluted areas eat more larvae and fewer moths
and spiders than in populations in less polluted areas. Groups of pied flycatchers respond to predators
by mobbing them. Whichever bird spots the intruder will send out a mobbing call to alert the other
flycatchers. If the intrusion is serious enough, several pied flycatchers will group together and harass
the predator until it leaves. While this is a good strategy for large groups with many possible recruits
for the mob, it can be dangerous for birds in less dense living situations. Predators like martens may
learn the mobbing call and respond to it, coming to attack the nests of birds while they are busy
attacking the original intruder.

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 IV. References
Department of Environment and Science. (2022, March 24). Koala facts. Environment. Retrieved from

https://environment.des.qld.gov.au/wildlife/animals/living-with/koalas/facts#diet

Australian Koala Foundation. (2021, January 5). Taxonomy. Retrieved from

https://www.savethekoala.com/about-koalas/taxonomy/

Fauna of Australia - awe.gov.au. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20, 2022, from

https://www.awe.gov.au/sites/default/files/env/pages/a117ced5-9a94-4586-afdb-

1f333618e1e3/files/31-ind.pdf

Dakota, A. N. (n.d.). Ficedula Hypoleuca (European pied flycatcher). Animal Diversity Web.

Retrieved from https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Ficedula_hypoleuca/

National Aquarium. (n.d.). Electric eel. Retrieved from https://aqua.org/explore/animals/electric-eel

Electric eel: National Geographic. Animals. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/facts/electric-eel

Electric eel. Smithsonian's National Zoo. (2018, June 27). Retrieved from

https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/electric-eel

Electric eel. Animals. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/facts/electric-eel

Catania, K. C. (1AD, January 1). The astonishing behavior of Electric Eels. Frontiers. Retrieved from

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnint.2019.00023/full

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