Gait pattern analysis of an Asian elephant

Abstract

Elephants have to maintain stability of a body weighing 2700 kg - 4500 kg in a wide range of unstructured terrain conditions. To achieve this, the dynamic walking control strategies of an elephant should be able to manage the large inertial forces working on the leg muscles. Therefore, understanding the gait patterns of an elephant can indicate the possible robust control strategies that an elephant may be adopting by exploiting its body dynamics and kinematics. This paper presents a simple method to analyze the gait patterns of an elephant using videos and snapshots. In the research, we have used three Asian elephants to capture videos and snapshots in order to obtain primary data. Finally, two outcomes were illustrated. Firstly, the ratios of body segments of the elephant were calculated using snapshots, and secondly, movements of the four limbs in the Sagittarius plane were measured and graphs were generated against time. Since the data used here were obtained from the images, errors can be occurred due to the scale of the image and measuring techniques. These errors were mitigated by carrying out appropriate error corrections

Asya Filinin (Elephas maximus) Yürüme Biyomekanik Parametreleri

“…The stance time percentage for each limb was about 75% (ranging from 72.64 to 76.09%). Temporal data from this study were consistent with those in the studies of Genin et al [5] and Wijasooriya et al [7] in that elephants may bear more weight on their forelimbs in order to support their massive body weight. This study also confirmed that Asian elephants spend a single limb swing phase of only approximately 25%, and distribute their body weight to the other three legs in order to maintain stability while accelerating the body forward.…”

“…The stride length of each limb was approximately 200 cm, ranging from 192.6 to 198.9 cm, with no significant difference between the fore and hindlimb on each side at a comfortable walking speed of average 1.1 ms -1 . This may confirm that elephants walk with a lateral sequence footfall pattern, and distribute their center of mass proportionally across all four limbs, as reported in previous studies [5][6][7]16] . It was somewhat surprising that in this study the average stride length on the right side was significantly longer than that on the left (P<0.05 for both fore limbs and hind limbs).…”

“…Markers with reflexive tape were applied to the elephant at the joint landmarks of each limb by the same veterinarian, according to procedures described by Wijesooriya [7] . The elephant subjects walked in a straight line at a normal, comfortable speed for 15 meters up a walkway before turning back.…”

“…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] .…”

Impact of Weight Carriage on Joint Kinematics in Asian Elephants Used for Riding

“…Kinematic gait measurements have been used widely by clinicians and researchers to qualitatively assess the degree of movement impairments resulting from musculoskeletal and neurological problems. Earlier kinematic studies of gaits in horses, dogs, and elephants [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ] utilized two-dimensional motion analysis with video capture. Recently, a novel wireless inertial measurement unit (IMU) has been developed with a motion sensor that enables three-dimensional (3D) analyses of a body’s specific force, movement, and angular rate and is now widely used in studies of motion analysis [ 17 , 18 ].…”