Fw: Elephant speeds and locomotion

["Michael E Teuton" <tons@netside.com>]

Thought this might be of interest to the list.  I will forward any
publication when received.

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: Reinert H. G. Mueller
To: Michael Teuton <tons@netside.com>
Date: Sunday, October 12, 1997 6:37 AM
Subject: Re: Elephant speeds and locomotion


Hello Michael,

>I saw your page on elephant locomotion and was wondering if I might ask
>a few questions.  What speeds are you getting?  What speeds do elephant
>achieve when they really charge or flee from danger?  Previously
>published speeds are 21-25mph.  Are they accurate and how did say
>Kingdon make the observations?  What muscle groups are involved in
>elevating and accelerating the hip?  What is the term for an elephants
>"run"?

Sorry for the long reply time, but I was indeed very busy the last day´s...
We made our tests to get a better understanding of the motion of large
animals.
This would eventually help us to understand the locomotion of dinosaurs. :-)
The first animal we looked at were these elephants. To make sure that the
elephant would run on a straight line perpendicular to the view of the
camera
she was guided by a trainer. Therefore we were limited by the running speed
of this trainer. Our measurements show a maximum speed of almost 10 m/s
(very
good trainer, isn´t he?) which would translate to approx. 22 mph. I am
almost
sure, however, that this is not the maximum speed of our elephants...

Right now we are preparing some publications. Please keep in touch, we´d
like to send you a copy.

Best regards,

Reinert

Dr. Reinert H. G. Mueller ----------- The F.I.B.U.S. research institute
fibus@mail.rhein-ruhr.de  ----------- http://www.cuci.nl/euregio/fibus.html
Phone 49-211-940366 FAX 940368 ------ http://www.rhein-ruhr.de/~fibus