Cursorial


The horse can be considered a "cursorial grainer".

Cursorial is a biological term that describes an organism specifically adapted for running. This term is usually used in conjunction with animal feeding habits or some other important adaptation. For example, a horse can be considered a "cursorial grainer", while a cheetah is a "cursorial predator". The term is more commonly applied to animals adapted to run great distances at high speed, rather than for animals that accelerate rapidly over short distances. It is rarely applied in animals with a body mass of less than one kilogram of weight, because these animals move in a series of short accelerations instead of moving at constant speed. All the cuspial animals are endothermic, requiring a high rate of metabolism and high resistance, however, it is possible that some extinct cursor species were ectothermic.



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