Explaining the energetics of walking and running has been difficult because the distribution of energy use among individual musc-les has not been known. We estimated energy use by measuring blood flow to the hindlimb muscles in guinea fowl. Blood flow to ske-letal muscles is controlled locally and varies directly with metabolic rate. We estimate that the swing-phase muscles consume 26% of the energy used by the limbs and the stance-phase muscles consume the remaining 74%, independent of speed. Thus, contrary to some pre-vious suggestions, swinging the limbs requires an appreciable fraction of the energy used during terrestrial legged locomotion. Mo-dels integrating the energetics and mechanics of running will benefit from more detailed information on the distribution of energy use by the muscles.

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