Lesson 1 of 12 · 6 min
Movement and locomotion
NCERT §17 (opening)
On the start line Meher blinks, swallows and shakes out her arms. None of that moves her a step down the track. Then the gun goes and she runs. What makes the running different?
The lesson in notes
In short
Movement is a key feature of living things. Amoeba moves by streaming of its protoplasm; many organisms move cilia, flagella or tentacles; humans move limbs, jaws, eyelids and tongue.
When a voluntary movement takes the organism to a new place it is locomotion. Walking, running, climbing, flying and swimming all count.
The same structure can serve both purposes: Paramoecium's cilia move food through the cytopharynx and also move the animal, and Hydra's tentacles catch prey and help it move.
So every locomotion is a movement, but not every movement is a locomotion.
Animals move from place to place to find food, shelter, mates, breeding grounds or a better climate, and to escape enemies or predators.