Biomechanics of locomotion in Asian elephants

Abstract

SUMMARYElephants are the biggest living terrestrial animal, weighing up to five tons and measuring up to three metres at the withers. These exceptional dimensions provide certain advantages (e.g. the mass-specific energetic cost of locomotion is decreased) but also disadvantages (e.g. forces are proportional to body volume while supportive tissue strength depends on their cross-sectional area, which makes elephants relatively more fragile than smaller animals). In order to understand better how body size affects gait mechanics the movement of the centre of mass (COM) of 34 Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) was studied over their entire speed range of 0.4-5.0ms -1 with force platforms. The mass-specific mechanical work required to maintain the movements of the COM per unit distance is ~0.2Jkg . At high speeds, elephants use a bouncing mechanism with little exchange between kinetic and potential energies of the COM, although without an aerial phase. Elephants increase speed while reducing the vertical oscillation of the COM from about 3cm to 1cm.

Kinematics and Ground Reaction Force Determination: A Demonstration Quantifying Locomotor Abilities of Young Adult, Middle-aged, and Geriatric Rats

“…In fact, kinematics, ground reaction force determination, or both have been used in a variety of species such as elephants [33][34][35] , cattle 36 , horses [37][38][39][40] , dogs 4,[41][42][43][44][45] , cats 21,[46][47][48][49] , various rodents 3,8,50,51 , birds 4,[52][53][54][55] , and fish 56,57 (this list is by no means exhaustive). In the authors' experience, however, the use of mice is problematic given that mice are not easy to operantly condition to travel along a runway.…”

Fast running restricts evolutionary change of the vertebral column in mammals

“…The taxa with the highest frequency of transitional lumbosacral vertebrae and/or abnormal presacral counts (>48%, echidnas, afrotherians, and slow artiodactyls; Datasets S1, S4, and S5) do not gallop, and their locomotion is cautious, with usually three or four and minimally two feet on the ground, thus avoiding great transitory stresses on the joints (14,(19)(20)(21)(22)(23). The trunk of these species has limited flexibility, due to a long, robust, and stiff thoracic region, a stiff lumbar spine of variable length, and little mobility at the lumbosacral joint (Figs.…”

“…23, 37-43). The slower-running species consist of (i) those that never gallop on land: the afrotherian Loxodonta and Elephas (19,44,45), Orycteropus (21,46), the monotreme echidnas (41), and the artiodactyl Hyemoschus (20,47) and Hippopotamus (which only gallops in the water, ref. 22); and (ii) those that rarely, or infrequently, gallop: the artiodactyl Ovibos (48,49), Cephalophus dorsalis (20,47,50), and Tragulus (little known, but supposed to be slow, refs.…”

Asya Filinin (Elephas maximus) Yürüme Biyomekanik Parametreleri

“…As elephants are the biggest quadruped animals [5] , with adults weighing over 2.5 tons and being 3 meters high, their walking mechanism is of interest, particularly in terms of how they stabilize their huge body and utilize energy. Previous studies have reported the footfall pattern of elephants as a lateral sequence, when a hindlimb on one side makes contact with the ground, followed in the pendulum mechanism by the forelimb on the same side [5][6][7] .…”

“…Previous studies have reported the footfall pattern of elephants as a lateral sequence, when a hindlimb on one side makes contact with the ground, followed in the pendulum mechanism by the forelimb on the same side [5][6][7] . Unlike other quadruped animals, elephants maintain this symmetrical pattern even at faster speeds, which are increased by increasing stride frequency rather than stride length, and so they do not trot or pace [5,8] . Elephants maintain stability by using the pendulum mechanism, despite their massive bodies, and they conserve energy with effective muscular work [9,10] .…”