Tue Mar 30, 8:44 am ET
LONDON (AFP) – Elephants' legs work like a four-wheel drive vehicle, making them probably unique in the animal kingdom, scientists said on Tuesday.
Their "four-leg-drive" system means power is applied independently to each limb.
All other four-legged animals are thought to have "rear-leg-drive", in which the hind legs are used for acceleration while the front legs are used more for braking.
"We have developed some new techniques for looking at animal movement that may change the way that we view the locomotion of other animals," said study leader John Hutchinson, from the Royal Veterinary College in London.
"We have shown that elephant legs function in very strange and probably unique ways. We even overturned some of our own previous ideas about elephants.
"Our measurements have also provided basic data that will be useful in clinical studies of elephants, such as common lameness problems."
The researchers studied the movements of six young Asian elephants, using three-dimensional motion-capture technology.
