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"Every creature has body shape and uses mode of locomotion that is most economical for the way of life it has developed through natural selection in response to severe environmental conditions."
--Akira Azuma
Through study of locomotion of living creatures, Akira Azuma has come to the conclusion that every creature is made and moves in a manner that is best suited to their environmental conditions. Thus, one purpose of this book is to shed light on the physical relationships among habitat, form, way of life, and mode of movement in living creatures. The text also reviews results of theoretical and empirical research carried out by various scientists over the years.
Each of the two main parts of the book, Flying Dynamics and Swimming Dynamics, is written from the viewpoint of mechanics, specifically fluid dynamics, rather than from the viewpoint of physiology and ecology. Thus the chapters and sections are organized according to mechanical, not biological principles.
The book will be useful not only to engineers working and studying fluid and flight dynamics, but also for biologists using mechanical analyses to gain a better understanding of the behavior of animals and the mechanical functions of the body parts in relation to their forms and modes of locomotion.
About the author
Azuma is Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo. He earned his PhD from the University of Tokyo. He was a Guest of Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Visiting Professor at the University of Maryland. He is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the American Helicopter Society.
