What’s the Difference Between a Biped and a Quadruped?

Posted by Roberta Goli Nov 8, 2009

Two of the nine categories under Mammals on Suite 101 are Bipeds and Quadrupeds. Do you know the difference between a bipedal mammal and a quadrupedal mammal? You probably do.

You may be aware that bi means two and quad means four, and the words biped and quadruped comes from the Latin words for two (bi), four (quad) and foot (ped). In regards to mammals, or animals in general, bipedalism and quadrupedalism are forms of terrestrial locomotion.

Bipedal animals walk, run, hop or jump on two legs and quadrupedal animals walk, run, stand on four legs. There are several bipedal mammals around. These include:

• Humans
• Non-human primates: monkeys, apes and chimpanzees
• Wallabies
• Kangaroos
• Lemurs
• Springhares

Although non-human primates use their arms for swinging and at times, knuckle walking, they use bipedal locomotion regularly. Some animals don’t move bipedally but they do exhibit bipedal behaviours by standing on their hind legs when they fight (bears), eat (mice) or while they look for signs of predators (meerkats).

Most mammals are quadrupeds that move on all four limbs. Some of these include:

• Dogs
• Tasmanian devils
• Polar bears
• Hyenas
• Giraffes
• Camels
• Elephants

For more information on bipeds and quadrupeds, visit these categories under the mammals’ topic.