Many animals have legs, however, there are quite a few species and types of animals that don’t have any legs at all. Today, I will cover how 10 of the most common types of animals and specific animal species move without legs.
Animals with no legs are called limbless. Meaning they have no limbs at all. Underwater, they move by swimming, and on land, they move their body in a somewhat ‘swimming’ motion to move. Examples are:
- seals
- walrus
- dugongs
- shellfish
- snakes
- snails
- slugs
- dolphins
- whales
- fish
- eels
However, some animals with no legs stay in one place most of their life, such as some shellfish. Below, I will explain how each of the animals with no legs move, and why they don’t need legs to survive and thrive.
To start with here’s a really helpful table that shows a short summary of the main ways each animal with no legs moves:
| Animal without legs | How they get around |
|---|---|
| Seals | Swim underwater, and on land, they move like a caterpillar with the help of their fins. |
| Fish | Swim underwater. They move their body side to side to propel forward with their tail. |
| Snakes | A few different ways: serpentine, accordion, sidewinding, and rectilinear movement patterns. |
| Whales | Swimming using their horizontal tail. They move their tail up and down |
| Shellfish | Some shellfish can swim by opening and closing their shells. Or, they will dig into the sand and move underground using their tongue (called a foot). Many shellfish are stationary their whole lives. |
| Dolphins | Swimming. They have a horizontal tail that they move up and down to propel themselves. |
| Walrus | Swimming. They have very flexible flippers at the end of their body. They move them in any direction to propel their body. |
| Jellyfish | By opening their body and closing it to propel themselves towards their head. Some don’t swim at all and go where the current takes them. Or, have buoyant bodies and float on the surface of the water. |
| Eels | They move their tail side to side to propel themselves forward. They also wriggle side to side on land. |
| Manatees | By moving their flat horizontal body up and down. They also use their small front flippers to change direction. |
Below, is a more in-depth explanation of how these animals without legs move, and why they move in the way they do.
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#1: Seals
There are many different species of seals. There are very large seals, such as the Elephant seal, and very small seals, such as the Baikal seal from Siberia. Also, some seals are ferocious predators, such as the Leopard seal.
Seals spend some of their time on land but are most mobile in the water. On land, they move about like a caterpillar, where they bunch up their body and then extend it. They can also use their flippers to help push them along the sand, rocks, and ice.
In the water, they are very agile and use their feet like fish. To a lesser extent, their front flippers propel themselves forward.
They also have very flexible bodies that allow them to change direction very fast. This is useful for avoiding predators and also for catching prey such as fish and crabs.
#2: Fish
Almost all fish have no legs. Instead, they have a single tail with a fin. Their front flippers can be used to propel them forward. They mostly use them for:
- short distances
- changing direction
- keeping them balanced
- staying stationary while eating
Fish primarily get around by moving their body and tail from side to side. By coordinating these two movements, they can generate incredible speed.
There are some rare fish that have fins that look quite similar to legs. However, they are different enough that they could be called legs. They use these to ‘walk’ around on the ocean floor. Some also can walk on muddy and sandy areas that are there when it’s low tide.
Examples of rare fish with leg-like fins are:
#3: Snakes
There are many different-sized snakes, from huge anacondas to smaller cobras and rattlesnakes. If you’ve observed a snake and a lizard, you will notice they look very similar as they move in some ways. However, snakes also move in very different ways from lizards.
Interestingly, there are four primary ways that snakes move. These are:
- Serpentine movement
- Accordion movement
- Sidewinding movement
- Rectilinear movement
#1: Serpentine movement
Serpentine movement is the type of movement snakes most commonly do. They lift certain parts of their body off the ground and then push down into the ground with other parts of their body.
In appearance, it looks like they’re floating on the ground. However, they are making small, very coordinated, fast movements that can’t be seen.
To start with, imagine you lay a piece of string flat on the ground and stretch it perfectly straight. You then push one end of the string towards the other end of the string and bunch it all up. You then pull the end of the string to make it straight again.
This movement is the same as the serpentine movement. However, they bunch up a small part of their body at a time, and very fast. They also do it in multiple parts of their body all at once.
#2: Accordion movement
The next type of movement is the accordion movement. According to biologists, snakes move in this way by holding the front of their body still and pulling up the rear of their body so that their body is all bunched together.
They will then press their tail into the ground and hold it still while they extend the front of their body.
FUN FACT: Snakes commonly use this method to strike at prey from a distance. But also when they are resting and begin moving again.
#3: Sidewinder movement
Sidewinder movement is where a snake holds the front and tail of the body in place at the same time. They then move the middle of their body to one side.
After that, they hold the middle of their body in place, lift their head and tail off the ground, and move them to one side. Making their body into a ‘C’ shape or sideways ‘V’ shape.
They then repeat this process by holding their head and the end of their body in the same place.
#4: Rectilinear movement
Finally, snakes will move in a rectilinear movement pattern. This is where a snake keeps its body straight and alternates moving its belly muscles on either side to move forward.
Snakes are so good at this method that they appear to be moving forward without any effort at all. Snakes use this method when they are very relaxed and can only move quite slowly when moving in this way.
If a snake is moving in this way and gets startled or needs to move away quickly, it will switch to one of the other methods of moving because it’s faster.
Here’s a quick video that shows this type of movement:
There are also some species of snakes that can swim very well and live in and out of the water.
#4: Whales
Whales are a type of animal that includes the largest animal in the world – the