Question

What is Locomotion? How does it help the animal?

Answer 1

Every animal needs locomotion or movement to survive in the ecosystem. In the case of humans, it is carried out with the help of hind limbs. But in various animals, the process of locomotion also differs.

Complete step by step answer:
All animals except some simple lower-class ones, show movement, be it for food or shelter or even reproduction. The voluntary movement shown by these animals is known by the word 'locomotion'. The methods vary in different organisms. In the case of humans, we perform Locomotion by our hind limbs mainly. But except for humans and primates, the other animals can't perform bipedal locomotion.
The locomotion in humans is mainly carried out by muscles and skeleton i.e. bones. There are three types of muscles- skeletal, visceral, and cardiac, but we can control only the skeletal muscles and they are the main ones used in movement from one place to another and also in the change of body posture. Visceral muscles form the inner walls of the hollow organs such as the alimentary canal and these are involuntary. The cardiac ones from the heart and continue their involuntary yet rhythmic contraction and relaxation throughout our whole life.
Therefore, with the help of muscle, bones, and the joints between them we can carry out locomotion.
Animals show locomotion or movement for several reasons like food searching, mating, for a suitable shelter, or sometimes to protect themselves from predators. Unlike plants, they can't make their food and have to gather or capture the food from plants or other organisms. Animals need it to survive. Some animals show migration from one place to another to survive from unsuitable conditions in the environment. Vulnerable animals usually run to escape dangerous situations and predators. Some animals need a different environment to reproduce then its actual habitat e.g. some fishes. Therefore, they travel to a suitable place to find mates and continue the next generation.

Note: Unlike humans, animals usually use both pairs of legs, fins, several pairs of legs, wings, or even their whole body to move. They can jump, crawl, fly, swim, climb, hop, run, slide, creep, wiggle. There’s an endless variety of movements in animals. But only the primates e.g. apes, bonobo, etc can show bipedal movement like humans. Bipedal means they can stand on their hind limbs without any external support. The bipedalism of primates is also a result of evolution and it is said to take place six million years ago in Africa.