Researchers Say Elephants Run Like Groucho Marx

Contrary to conventional belief, elephants are able to run, but their gait is unlike that of any other animal, according to Stanford University researchers. The researchers dubbed the phenomenon “Groucho running” after the silly, crouched walk of Groucho Marx.

The elephant’s four legs never leave the ground at the same time -- the classic definition of running -- but the animals bend their legs to achieve a smoother gait, and their center of mass bounces like that of other running animals, said Stanford mechanical engineer John R. Hutchinson.

Hutchinson and his colleagues painted white spots at crucial points on the elephant’s skin -- much like the reflectors that are used to reproduce the motion of athletes for video games -- and filmed the animals’ progress over a 100-meter course.

They reported in Thursday’s issue of Nature that the animals could run at speeds as high as 15 mph, about 50% faster than asserted in previous reliable reports.

Most four-legged animals have three gaits: walk, trot and run. In a trot, the left rear and right front legs touch the ground almost simultaneously, followed by the right rear and left front. In a run, the two rear legs touch the ground simultaneously, followed by the two front legs, with all four legs off the ground at some point in the cycle.

But no matter how fast elephants go, their gait doesn’t change. The left hind foot moves first, followed by a brief pause, after which the left front foot moves. After a longer pause, the same thing happens on the right side.

“They don’t leave the ground, which is the classical definition [of running], but they do seem to bounce,” Hutchinson said.