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Background  The ostrich is a cursorial bird with extraordinary speed and endurance, especially in the desert, and thus is an ideal large-scale animal model for mechanic study of locomotion on granular substrate.    Methods  The plantar pressure distributions of ostriches walking/running on loose sand/solid ground were recorded using a dynamic pressure plate.    Results  The center of pressure (COP) on loose sand mostly originated from the middle of the 3rd toe, which differed from the J-shaped COP trajectory on solid ground. At mid-stance, a high-pressure region was observed in the middle of the 3rd toe on loose sand, but three high-pressure regions were found on solid ground. The gait mode significantly affected the peak pressures of the 3rd and 4th toes ( p  = 1.5 × 10 −6  and 2.39 × 10 −8 , respectively), but not that of the claw ( p  = 0.041). The effects of substrate were similar to those of the gait mode.    Discussion  Ground reaction force trials of each functional part showed the 3rd toe bore more body loads and the 4th toe undertook less loads. The pressure distributions suggest balance maintenance on loose sand was provided by the 3rd and 4th toes and the angle between their length axes. On loose sand, the middle of the 3rd toe was the first to touch the sand with a smaller attack angle to maximize the ground reaction force, but on solid ground, the lateral part was the first to touch the ground to minimize the transient loading. At push-off, the ostrich used solidification properties of granular sand under the compression of the 3rd toe to generate sufficient traction.

Plantar pressure distribution of ostrich during locomotion on loose sand and solid ground