File:AnimalEfficiency.png

Summary
I, Sam George, created this image from data in Neil A. Campbell's "Biology" 3rd edition, see page 1035; with corrections. The original svg is available, contact me if you want a copy.

I consider the data in the original graph to be in question as the mass scale was labeled with irregular spacings, the first increment on the mass scale was only one order of magnitude (10^-1g to 1g) while all other steps were three orders of magnitude in their spacing. Also, humans were listed as having a mass of less than 1kg. oops. Perhaps the graph was fixed in later editions of the book?

The 'Active Urbanite' is me wandering around the cities that I live: 2000 kilo-calorie diet, 10 km, 70 kg. The 'Biker' point is optimistic and represents the mechanical assistance of a bicycle to travel a 100km distance on the same diet. These hands-on points cause me to further question the original data as even with mechanical means I can't get close to the data line for running.

An interesting aspect of this data is that it illustrates that the actual speed at which the distance is traveled is irrelevant for animals. Unlike an automobile which is considerably more efficient at certain operation rates.