Re: Can elephants run?

[Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au>]

On Tue, Feb 16th, 2010 at 3:32 PM, David Krentz <ddkrentz@charter.net> wrote:

> Perhaps the tail, and the attachment area it provides for a powerful
> caudofemoralis longus muscle might add to the power of the stride.  

Perhaps for the hindlimbs, but unless stegs and sauropods bounded like rabbits 
(or fresh-water 
crocs for that matter), the forelimbs would still limit the speed (and perhaps 
the type) of gait 
possible. If your hindlimbs out-pace your forelimbs, you can expect a face-dirt 
moment eventually.

Unless they ran as bipeds - which has been proposed for stegosaurs in the past 
(both seriously and 
not).

-- 
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Dann Pigdon
GIS Specialist                         Australian Dinosaurs
Melbourne, Australia               http://home.alphalink.com.au/~dannj
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