Fig. 1

Schematics of apparatuses used in this study, including our unbranched (a) and branched (b) wooden dowel structures. We used a custom-built racetrack (c) equipped with IR break beams and an Arduino to measure exertion capacity and locomotor performance on a flat, two-dimensional surface (i.e., a painted wall). For scale, the structure to the left of each schematic is 1 m in height