Science Article Summary 12

Schenkman, L. Is that elephant running? Don't bet on it. ScienceNOW Daily News. 12 Feb 2010.

Researchers have always wondered if elephants are actually running or walking because they do not take all four feet off of the ground. All other four-legged animals take all four feet off of the ground when running. Scientists are having a hard time telling if the elephants are running because they are so massive. Scientists can easily measure smaller animals and humans because they can just simply walk across force-censing plates. In 2003, the researchers videotaped the elephants on high speed in order to analyze their "running" pattern. The video showed that the elephants were moving their legs like a runner, but the researcher's were not convinced.

Norman Heglund, a biomechanics expert, conducted a new study that involved 16 heavy-duty force-sensing plates that could withstand being trampled by elephants. Thirty-four elephants were filmed as they ran a track at various ranges of speed. Elephants do not move their center of gravity, in fact, they only move up and down about a centimeter when they "run." The results of the study was that "they sort of run." The front legs of an elephant walk, while the back legs trot. When the elephant is at high speeds, the back legs stay rigid, which is typical of a walk. Heglund says that "they can't quite kick it into second gear, so they're stuck halfway between a walk and a run."

Another researcher says that there could have been a problem with the study. The elephants could have touched more than one plate at a time. When this happens, it makes it hard to separate what individual limbs were doing.