Are Fast-Moving Elephants Really Running?

John Hutchinson

Are fast moving elephants really running?

Webpage with information about the 2003 paper in Nature and follow-up research

by John R. Hutchinson and many collaborators

Despite their unseemly bulk, elephants can hit high speeds—but use an unusual style.

Wanalee the elephant running at a fast clip
TECC elephant "Wannalee" at a fast clip (14 mph, 22 kph, or 6.2 m/s); a Froude number of 3.4, which was the highest dimensionless speed we ever measured for an elephant. Photo: Richard Lair.

BBSRC grant agency press release: August 16, 2006 here

New papers expanding on or related to the original study:

Hutchinson, J.R., C.E. Miller, G. Fritsch, T. Hildebrandt. In press. The anatomical foundation for multidisciplinary studies of animal limb function: examples from dinosaur and elephant limb imaging studies. in R. Frey and H. Endo (eds.), Digital Imaging and the Transformation of the Anatomical Sciences: Toward a New Morphology. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, in press.

Miller, C.M., C. Basu, G. Fritsch, T. Hildebrandt, J.R. Hutchinson. 2007. Ontogenetic scaling of foot musculoskeletal anatomy in elephants. J. Roy. Soc. Interface, FirstCite Online, doi:10.1098/rsif.2007.1220.

Ren, L. and J.R. Hutchinson. 2008. The three-dimensional locomotor dynamics of African (Loxodonta africana) and Asian (Elephas maximus) elephants reveal a smooth gait transition at moderate speed. J. Roy. Soc. Interface 5:195-211 (published online in 2007).

Weissengruber, G.E., G.F. Egger, J.R. Hutchinson, H.B. Groenewald, L. Elsässer, D. Famini, G. Forstenpointner. 2006. The structure of the cushions in the feet of African Elephants (Loxodonta africana). Journal of Anatomy 209: 781-792. [pdf]

Hutchinson, J.R., D. Schwerda, D. Famini, R.H.I. Dale, M. Fischer, R. Kram. 2006. The locomotor kinematics of African and Asian elephants: changes with speed and size. Journal of Experimental Biology 209: 3812-3827. [pdf]

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