Masters of the Leap: Animals That Move by Jumping

Saltatorial locomotion, the use of jumping or hopping as a primary mode of movement, has evolved independently across multiple animal lineages. Kangaroos, frogs, jerboas, and rabbits all employ this gait, yet each group has arrived at the solution through different anatomical pathways. This article examines the biomechanical adaptations that make jumping possible, the energy economics that make it worthwhile, and the evolutionary history that shaped these remarkable movers. For students, researchers, and life-science professionals, understanding saltatorial locomotion offers insight into how form follows function under selective pressure.

At a Glance: Saltatorial Animals and Their Adaptations

Defining Saltatorial Locomotion

Saltatorial locomotion refers to a gait in which an animal moves by a series of jumps or hops. This mode of movement appears across mammals, amphibians, and even some arthropods. The defining feature is that both hindlimbs work together to propel the body off the ground, with the forelimbs serving primarily for landing support and balance.

A loss-of-function mutation study in rabbits identified saltatorial locomotion as a hopping gait found in rabbits, hares, kangaroos, and some rodent species. The study demonstrated that a single gene, RAR related orphan receptor B (RORB), is required for the performance of saltatorial locomotion in rabbits. When this gene is disrupted, rabbits lose their typical jumping behavior and adopt unusual bipedal gaits using their front legs. This finding reveals that the neural circuitry for hopping is genetically controlled and can be disrupted by a single mutation.

The distinction between saltatorial and other gaits matters for understanding animal movement ecology. Walking and running involve continuous contact with the ground, while jumping involves ballistic phases where the animal is airborne. This airborne phase allows saltatorial animals to clear obstacles, escape predators rapidly, and cover ground efficiently in open habitats.

The Biomechanics of Jumping

Hindlimb Structure and Function

The hindlimbs of saltatorial animals share several common features despite their evolutionary distance. These include elongated limb bones, enlarged muscle masses, and specialized joints that store and release elastic energy.

In kangaroos, the knee joint is a complex diarthrodial joint that depends on interacting osseous, cartilaginous, and ligamentous components for stability. Research on the kangaroo knee identified a structure previously described as a "femorofibular disc" that is better classified as a fibular meniscus. This meniscus connects to a tendinous tract joining one belly of the gastrocnemius muscle with the lateral meniscus through a hyaline cartilage cornu of the enlarged lateral fabella. The complex of ligaments connecting the fibular meniscus to surrounding connective tissues and muscles provides strong resistance to external rotation of the tibia. This adaptation resists the rotational torque applied across the joint during bipedal saltatory locomotion in kangaroos.

Anuran limbs show specializations of the stylopodium, zeugopodium, and proximal carpals and tarsals that facilitate saltatorial locomotion. The anuran prepollex and prehallux are not vestigial digits but have evolved specialized functions. Medial rotation of the manus in anurans distributes the force of impact upon landing at the end of a jump. Additional skeletal elements called intercalary elements appear within neobatrachians and integrate with digital pads in lineages capable of locomotion on smooth vertical surfaces.

Elastic Energy Storage

The remarkable energy efficiency of kangaroo hopping has attracted scientific attention for decades. Hopping kangaroos exhibit remarkably little change in their rate of metabolic energy expenditure with locomotor speed compared to other running animals. A three-dimensional musculoskeletal model of red and grey kangaroos, integrating motion capture and force plate data, revealed that increasing ankle dorsiflexion and metatarsophalangeal plantarflexion decrease ankle effective mechanical advantage. This posture change increases energy absorption and peak tendon stress at the ankle. These posture-mediated increases in elastic energy storage and return enable kangaroos to achieve energetic benefits at faster hopping speeds.

The same research identified a limitation: the risk of tendon rupture may limit the performance of large kangaroos. This finding connects directly to questions about the upper size limit of bipedal hopping.

Size Limits of Hopping

The relationship between body size and hopping ability has been tested using fossil evidence. Previous analyses recovered an upper limit of approximately 140 to 160 kilograms for bipedal hopping based on allometry. Research on giant extinct kangaroos from the Pleistocene, which were more than twice as heavy as any modern kangaroo, tested two potential limiting factors: bone strength and tendon size. The metatarsals of giant kangaroos would have been capable of resisting the bending moments involved in hopping, and their calcanea could accommodate tendons large enough to resist the loads generated during hopping. While hopping may not have been the primary mode of locomotion for these giants, it likely formed part of a broader locomotor repertoire for short bursts of speed.

Kangaroos: The Largest Hopping Mammals

Anatomy of the Kangaroo Knee

The kangaroo knee represents an extreme adaptation for saltatorial locomotion. The joint depends on interacting osseous, cartilaginous, and ligamentous components for stability. Principal load bearing occurs through the femorotibial articulation, with additional lateral articulations involving the fibula and lateral fabella contributing to the functional arrangement.

The fibular meniscus and its associated ligament complex resist external rotation of the tibia during hopping. This rotational torque arises from the powerful forces generated during takeoff and landing. Without this specialized structure, the kangaroo knee would be vulnerable to injury during repetitive high-impact loading.

Posture and Energetics

The posture of hopping kangaroos changes with speed in ways that affect energy use. As speed increases, kangaroos adopt postures that increase tendon stress and elastic energy storage. This mechanism allows them to maintain relatively constant metabolic energy expenditure across a range of speeds, a pattern that differs from most running animals.

The tradeoff is that this posture-mediated elastic energy storage may limit the performance of large kangaroos due to the risk of tendon rupture. This constraint likely explains why modern kangaroos do not exceed certain body sizes and why giant fossil kangaroos may have used hopping only for short bursts instead of sustained locomotion.

Vestibular System Adaptations

The inner ear vestibular system detects spatial orientation through three semicircular canals. Research on marsupial bony labyrinths found that the diameter of the semicircular canals carries the highest functional loading for distinguishing saltatorial taxa from arboreal and gliding species. The overall shape of the semicircular canals is less important than their diameter for this functional distinction.

This finding has practical applications for paleontology. The locomotion mode of extinct taxa can be inferred from the bony labyrinth independent of postcranial material. For saltatorial marsupials, the vestibular system has evolved to support the rapid changes in orientation that occur during hopping.

Frogs and the Evolution of Jumping

Anuran Limb Diversity

Anurans have three primary types of locomotion: walking, jumping, and swimming. All adult anurans have four limbs with four fingers on the hands and five toes on the feet. Despite the diversity of anuran species, the anuran body shape is largely constrained, with limited morphometric variations in the skeleton of different developmental modules.

Specializations for saltatorial locomotion appear in the stylopodium, zeugopodium, and proximal carpals and tarsals. The prepollex and prehallux serve specialized functions instead of being vestigial digits. Medial rotation of the manus distributes landing forces, and intercalary elements within neobatrachians integrate with digital pads for locomotion on smooth vertical surfaces.

Muscle Physiology Differences

Different anuran species show different locomotion mechanisms, evidenced by comparing the mechanical contractile properties of hindlimb muscles. A study comparing arboreal, terrestrial, and aquatic Mexican anuran species found that the arboreal species showed higher stresses in the cruralis and gastrocnemius muscles than the aquatic and terrestrial species. The stress generated by the aquatic and terrestrial anurans was up to 23 percent less than that generated by the arboreal anuran in the cruralis muscle.

These differences in muscle physiology suggest adaptive differences among species. The arboreal species requires greater muscle force for jumping between branches, while aquatic and terrestrial species have different locomotor demands.

The Evolutionary Origin of Frog Jumping

The evolutionary history of frog jumping is more complex than previously assumed. The most basal living frog family, Leiopelmatidae, includes two stream-dwelling species and several that have transitioned into terrestrial niches. These cryptic frogs remain immobile over 99.6 percent of the time above ground as they sit in wait of prey and only rarely use jumping to escape. Walking is their primary mode of locomotion.

The locomotor behavior of leiopelmatid frogs does not support the hypothesis that frog jumping originally evolved primarily as a means to rapidly escape into water. The cryptic, cold-adapted, belly-flopping anurans that usually walk may represent a successful initial step in the evolution of saltatorial locomotion in frogs.

The Triassic stem-frog Triadobatrachus lacked the ability to jump but nonetheless had the forelimb strength to withstand the impact of landing from a jump. A hypothesis to resolve this pseudoparadox proposes that the strengthened forelimbs are former adaptations to forelimb-based digging that later made jumping possible by exaptation. The Permian microsaur Batropetes combined adaptations to walking and digging, using one forelimb at a time to shove leaf litter aside. This digging lifestyle may represent an analog or possibly a homolog of the digging stage that preceded the origin of Salientia.

Rodents: Balancing Hopping with Burrowing

The Spinifex Hopping Mouse

The spinifex hopping mouse, Notomys alexis, forages in open areas in arid environments and is adapted for saltatorial locomotion. This species is semi-fossorial, meaning it burrows but also forages on the surface. Semi-fossorial animals need to balance the competing morphological requirements of terrestrial and burrowing locomotion.

Research on the spinifex hopping mouse measured the net costs of burrowing and pedestrian transport. The net cost of transport by burrowing for hopping mice was more expensive than for specialized fossorial species. Burrows were estimated to represent an energy investment equivalent to the terrestrial locomotion expected to be incurred in 17 to 100 days.

The high terrestrial speeds attainable by this semi-fossorial species through saltatory locomotion apparently outweigh the energetic savings that would be associated with burrowing specialization. This tradeoff explains why hopping mice maintain adaptations for both hopping and burrowing instead of specializing in one mode.

Long Bone Shape in Sigmodontine Rodents

Geometric morphometric analysis of long bones in 19 sigmodontine rodent species with different locomotor types revealed that functional demands and evolutionary history jointly influence the shape of forelimb and hindlimb bones. The main variation in bone shape is associated with a slenderness-robustness gradient observed across all ecological categories.

Quadrupedal-saltatorial species possess slender and elongated limbs suited for agility, while natatorial and semifossorial species exhibit shorter and more robust bone shapes suited for their respective environments. This gradient also influences bone covariation within limbs, demonstrating interconnectedness between elements. Functional covariation was found between the ulna-tibiofibula and humerus-tibiofibula.

Rabbits and the Genetic Control of Hopping

The Sauteur d'Alfort Rabbit

The sauteur d'Alfort rabbit strain exhibits an abnormal locomotion behavior defined by the loss of the typical jumping that characterizes wild-type rabbits. Individuals from this strain frequently adopt a bipedal gait using their front legs. Experimental crosses and whole genome sequencing showed that a single locus containing the RAR related orphan receptor B gene explains the atypical gait of these rabbits.

A splice-site mutation in an evolutionarily conserved site of RORB results in several aberrant transcript isoforms incorporating intronic sequence. This mutation leads to a drastic reduction of RORB-positive neurons in the spinal cord, as well as defects in differentiation of populations of spinal cord interneurons. The results show that RORB function is required for the performance of saltatorial locomotion in rabbits.

Implications for Understanding Hopping

The RORB mutation study demonstrates that the neural circuitry for hopping is genetically controlled and can be disrupted by a single mutation. This finding has implications for understanding the evolution of saltatorial locomotion across mammals. If a single gene can control the performance of hopping, then the evolution of this gait may have involved relatively few genetic changes.

The study also highlights the importance of spinal cord interneurons in coordinating the alternating flexion and extension of hindlimbs during hopping. These interneurons integrate sensory feedback and descending motor commands to produce the rhythmic pattern of muscle activation required for sustained hopping.

Comparative Energetics of Hopping

The Stretch-Shortening Cycle

Hopping, skipping, jumping, and sprinting are common tasks in both active play and competitive sports. These movements utilize the stretch-shortening cycle, a naturally occurring muscle action for most forms of human locomotion. This muscle action results in more efficient movements and helps optimize relative force generated per motor unit recruited.

The stretch-shortening cycle operates when a muscle is stretched immediately before it contracts concentrically. The stretched muscle stores elastic energy that is released during the subsequent contraction, increasing the force and power of the movement. This mechanism is fundamental to saltatorial locomotion across species.

Metabolic Efficiency in Kangaroos

The metabolic efficiency of kangaroo hopping has been a subject of scientific investigation for decades. Hopping kangaroos exhibit remarkably little change in their rate of metabolic energy expenditure with locomotor speed compared to other running animals. This phenomenon may be related to greater elastic energy savings due to increasing tendon stress.

The mechanisms that enable the rise in tendon stress without additional muscle work have been clarified through musculoskeletal modeling. Increasing ankle dorsiflexion and metatarsophalangeal plantarflexion decrease ankle effective mechanical advantage by altering both the muscle and external moment arms. This posture change increases energy absorption and peak tendon stress at the ankle, allowing more elastic energy storage at faster speeds.

Burrowing Costs in Hopping Mice

The energetic tradeoff between hopping and burrowing in the spinifex hopping mouse illustrates the competing demands faced by semi-fossorial saltatorial animals. The net cost of transport by burrowing for hopping mice was more expensive than for specialized fossorial species. Burrows represented an energy investment equivalent to 17 to 100 days of terrestrial locomotion.

A phylogenetically independent-contrasts approach revealed that morphological specialization for burrowing was associated with low maximum running speeds in fossorial mammals. For non-fossorial rodents and marsupials, maximum running speed was positively correlated with an index of habitat structure ranging from arboreal to open desert. This finding supports the interpretation that saltatorial locomotion is an adaptation for high-speed movement in open habitats.

Practical Assessment: Observing Saltatorial Locomotion

Field Observation Protocol

For researchers and students observing saltatorial animals in the field, a systematic approach to data collection improves the quality of observations. The following steps provide a framework for assessing jumping behavior:

1. Identify the species and record the habitat type, noting whether it is open grassland, forest edge, or arid desert.
2. Measure or estimate the distance of individual jumps using markers or a measuring tape.
3. Record the frequency of jumping versus walking or running during a timed observation period.
4. Note the substrate type, as soft sand or mud affects jump performance and energy expenditure.
5. Observe landing posture, particularly the position of the forelimbs and the angle of the hindlimbs.
6. Record the time of day and weather conditions, as temperature affects muscle performance in ectothermic animals like frogs.
7. Photograph or video record the animals for later analysis of joint angles and posture.

Records and Measurements

Maintaining systematic records of saltatorial locomotion observations allows for comparison across species and habitats. Useful measurements include jump distance, jump height, takeoff angle, landing distance from takeoff point, and time in the air. For captive animals, researchers can measure ground reaction forces using force plates and analyze joint kinematics using motion capture systems.

For studies of muscle function, in situ stimulation protocols can measure the contractile properties of specific muscles. The cruralis and gastrocnemius muscles are commonly studied in anurans because they generate the majority of the force for jumping.

Common Observation Errors

Several common errors can compromise the quality of saltatorial locomotion observations. Confusing walking with hopping in species that use both gaits leads to inaccurate assessments of locomotion mode. Failing to account for substrate conditions can produce misleading measurements of jump performance. Observing animals during disturbance instead of natural behavior can bias results toward escape responses instead of routine locomotion.

Limitations and Knowledge Gaps

Size Constraints on Hopping

The upper size limit of bipedal hopping remains an active area of research. Previous analyses recovered an upper limit of approximately 140 to 160 kilograms based on allometry. However, incorporating changes in hindlimb scaling patterns among giant species alters these conclusions. The metatarsals of giant kangaroos would have been capable of resisting the bending moments involved in hopping, and their calcanea could accommodate tendons large enough to resist the loads generated during hopping.

While hopping may not have been the primary mode of locomotion for giant extinct kangaroos, it likely formed part of a broader locomotor repertoire for short bursts of speed. This finding suggests that the relationship between body size and hopping ability is more complex than simple allometric scaling would predict.

Neural Control of Hopping

The molecular mechanisms that control and fine-tune the formation of saltatorial gait are largely unknown. The RORB mutation study in rabbits represents a significant advance, demonstrating that a single gene can control the performance of hopping. However, the full neural circuitry underlying saltatorial locomotion remains to be mapped.

Future research using genetic tools to manipulate specific populations of spinal cord interneurons could reveal how the rhythmic pattern of muscle activation during hopping is generated and maintained. Understanding these mechanisms could inform the design of legged robots and assistive devices for humans with gait disorders.

Evolutionary Transitions

The evolutionary transitions between different locomotor modes remain poorly understood. The hypothesis that frog jumping originated through exaptation from forelimb-based digging provides a testable framework for future research. Similarly, the relationship between burrowing and hopping in rodents illustrates how species can balance competing morphological demands.

The finding that leiopelmatid frogs primarily walk and rarely jump suggests that the ancestral anuran condition may have been quite different from the jumping specialists we see today. The locomotor strategy of these cryptic, cold-adapted anurans may represent a successful initial step in the evolution of saltatorial locomotion in frogs.

Welfare and Safety Considerations

Captive Management of Saltatorial Animals

For those managing captive populations of saltatorial animals, understanding their locomotor needs is essential for welfare. Kangaroos require sufficient space to hop at their preferred speeds, and enclosures should provide firm, even substrates to reduce the risk of tendon injuries. Frogs require appropriate humidity and temperature to maintain muscle function, as their performance is temperature-dependent.

The risk of tendon rupture in large kangaroos highlights the importance of preventing obesity and maintaining appropriate exercise levels. Overweight animals face increased stress on their tendons and joints during hopping, potentially leading to injury.

Human Applications

The biomechanics of saltatorial locomotion have informed human sports medicine and rehabilitation. The stretch-shortening cycle is fundamental to human jumping and sprinting, and understanding its development throughout childhood and adolescence helps practitioners differentiate between training-induced adaptations and changes that occur naturally due to growth and maturation.

Plyometric and agility tasks are integrated into rehabilitation programs to enhance fast twitch muscle fiber recruitment, anaerobic metabolic energy system function, and fatigue resistance. The goal is to achieve the lower extremity neuromuscular control and activation responsiveness needed for bilateral dynamic knee joint stability.

Bionic Applications

The kangaroo knee has inspired engineering applications in robotics. A bionic geared five-bar knee joint mechanism was designed by imitating the knee joint of a kangaroo to improve the energy utilization rate of legged robots and reduce the required driving power. The trajectory curve of the instantaneous center of rotation of the kangaroo knee joint was obtained through image processing technology, and the bionic knee joint was designed using a single-degree-of-freedom geared five-bar mechanism.

The proposed bionic geared five-bar knee joint mechanism can more closely track the given trajectory of the total center of mass motion, has abundant motion characteristics, and can effectively reduce the power demand and energy consumption of robot knee actuators under high-speed running and jumping gaits.

Professional Escalation Criteria

Researchers and practitioners working with saltatorial animals should seek specialized consultation when encountering specific challenges. Sudden changes in hopping ability in captive kangaroos or rabbits warrant veterinary assessment, as they may indicate tendon injury, neurological dysfunction, or metabolic disease. The RORB mutation study demonstrates that genetic factors can cause loss of hopping ability, so unexplained gait changes in rabbits should prompt genetic investigation.

For field researchers, observations of saltatorial animals in unusual habitats or with atypical gait patterns should be documented and reported to appropriate scientific authorities. Such observations may indicate range expansions, habitat degradation, or emerging diseases affecting locomotor performance.

For those applying saltatorial biomechanics to human rehabilitation or robotics, consultation with specialists in biomechanics, sports medicine, or mechanical engineering is appropriate when designing interventions or devices. The complexity of the stretch-shortening cycle and the risk of tendon injury require specialized expertise.

Frequently Asked Questions

What animals use jumping as their primary mode of locomotion?

Kangaroos, frogs, jerboas, hopping mice, kangaroo rats, rabbits, and hares are the most well-known saltatorial animals. Saltatorial locomotion is a hopping gait found in rabbits, hares, kangaroos, and some species of rodents. Each group has evolved specialized anatomical adaptations for jumping, including elongated hindlimbs, powerful muscles, and elastic tendons.

What animals jump like kangaroos?

Animals that jump like kangaroos use bipedal hopping with both hindlimbs working together. This includes kangaroo rats, jerboas, hopping mice, and some other desert rodents. These animals have convergently evolved similar body plans with elongated hindlimbs and reduced forelimbs. The spinifex hopping mouse is a well-studied example of a rodent adapted for saltatorial locomotion in arid environments.

Why do kangaroos hop instead of run?

Hopping allows kangaroos to maintain relatively constant metabolic energy expenditure across a range of speeds. Research using a three-dimensional musculoskeletal model showed that posture changes during faster hopping increase elastic energy storage in tendons, enabling energetic benefits at faster speeds. This elastic energy storage mechanism is more efficient than the muscle-driven running gait used by most mammals.

How do frogs jump so far?

Frogs generate powerful forces with their hindlimb muscles to launch their bodies. The anuran body plan includes specializations of the stylopodium, zeugopodium, and proximal carpals and tarsals that facilitate saltatorial locomotion. Different frog species show different muscle contractile properties, with arboreal species generating higher muscle stresses than aquatic or terrestrial species.

What is the largest animal that can hop?

Modern kangaroos are the largest hopping mammals. Research on giant extinct kangaroos from the Pleistocene, which were more than twice as heavy as any modern kangaroo, suggests that hopping may have formed part of their locomotor repertoire for short bursts of speed. Previous analyses recovered an upper size limit of approximately 140 to 160 kilograms for bipedal hopping.

Do all frogs jump?

No, not all frogs jump. The most basal living frog family, Leiopelmatidae, primarily walks and only rarely uses jumping to escape. These cryptic frogs remain immobile over 99.6 percent of the time above ground. Walking is their primary mode of locomotion, and their behavior does not support the hypothesis that frog jumping originally evolved primarily as a means to rapidly escape into water.

How do hopping animals land safely?

Hopping animals have evolved specialized structures to absorb the impact of landing. In anurans, medial rotation of the manus distributes the force of impact upon landing at the end of a jump. In kangaroos, the fibular meniscus and associated ligaments resist external rotation of the tibia during saltatorial locomotion. The forelimbs and girdles serve mainly to support weight at rest and absorb the shock of landing.

What limits the size of hopping animals?

The upper size limit of bipedal hopping is determined by bone strength and tendon size. Research on giant extinct kangaroos found that their metatarsals would have been capable of resisting the bending moments involved in hopping, and their calcanea could accommodate tendons large enough to resist the loads generated during hopping. However, posture-mediated increases in elastic energy storage may limit the performance of large kangaroos due to the risk of tendon rupture.

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References and Further Reading

• NCBI Literature Resources. National Center for Biotechnology Information.
• PubMed. National Library of Medicine.
• A loss-of-function mutation in RORB disrupts saltatorial locomotion in rabbits.. PLoS genetics, 2021.
• The fibular meniscus of the kangaroo as an adaptation against external tibial rotation during saltatorial locomotion.. Journal of anatomy, 2017.
• Functional morphological adaptations of the bony labyrinth in marsupials (Mammalia, Theria).. Journal of morphology, 2017.
• Balancing the competing requirements of saltatorial and fossorial specialisation: burrowing costs in the spinifex hopping mouse, Notomys alexis.. The Journal of experimental biology, 2006.
• How the even-toed ungulate vertebral column works: Comparison of intervertebral mobility in 33 genera.. Journal of anatomy, 2021.
• Morphological Variation in Anuran Limbs: Constraints and Novelties.. Journal of experimental zoology. Part B, Molecular and developmental evolution, 2017.
• Movement patterns in leiopelmatid frogs: Insights into the locomotor repertoire of basal anurans.. Behavioural processes, 2015.
• From slenderness to robustness: Understanding long bone shape in sigmodontine rodents.. Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007), 2024.
• Postural adaptations may contribute to the unique locomotor energetics seen in hopping kangaroos.. 2025.
• Biomechanical limits of hopping in the hindlimbs of giant extinct kangaroos.. 2026.
• Postural adaptations may contribute to the unique locomotor energetics seen in hopping kangaroos. 2024.
• Optimization Design and Performance Analysis of a Bionic Knee Joint Based on the Geared Five-Bar Mechanism.. 2023.
• A clinical practice review of therapeutic movement-based anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction return to sports bridge program: the biological, biomechanical and behavioral rationale.. 2023.
• The scratch-digging lifestyle of the Permian “microsaur” Batropetes Carroll & Gaskill, 1971 as a model for the exaptative origin of jumping locomotion in frogs. Comptes rendus. Palevol, 2022.
• The scratch-digging lifestyle of the Permian “microsaur” Batropetes as a model for the exaptative origin of jumping locomotion in frogs. bioRxiv, 2021.
• Locomotion and Biomechanical Adaptations in Hind Limb Muscles of Three Mexican Anuran Species. South American Journal of Herpetology, 2023.
• A Study on the Covering Setae of Two Jumping Spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) in Türkiye. Bitlis Eren Üniversitesi Fen Bilimleri Dergisi, 2025.
• Walk before you jump: new insights on early frog locomotion from the oldest known salientian. Paleobiology, 2016.
• The Influence of Growth and Maturation on Stretch-Shortening Cycle Function in Youth. Sports Medicine, 2017.

This article is educational and does not replace institutional policy, professional advice, or applicable safety and regulatory requirements.