Computer model reveals how elephants move

[ElGatoLoco698]

Brought to you by the same guys who need a computer animation to teach people how to blink. Good job science. You spent all the time and effort to find out that putting one foot in front of another is walking.

[dmnxCGi]

this is not a new thing, trust me.

[ridingisasport]

Uh,mammoths are designed to live in extreme cold,yet in the movie it pretty warm. they would overheat,especially when working hard.I meant did you work on the mammoths,not did you work on the weather.Sorry.

[ridingisasport]

And I think the mammoths are going so fast because they are on a downward ramp.Possibly.Maybe.

[Avalikia]

Elephants can't run. The definition of running is when you reach a speed where all your legs are off the ground at some point during each stride. An elephant is so heavy that it needs to keep at least two legs on the ground at all times (which means that they can't jump either). However, they can "speed walk" at up to 25 mph (40 kph)...

[DrSnugglebunny]

It's not a computer model, it's footage from motion capture. There is a difference; the journalist got it wrong.

Probably there was no need to put markers on the left legs as they're probably not moving very differently from the right legs?

RTFA in New Scientist...

[Maracachucho]

a computer model based on motion capture, cos thats a computer model after all right? its pointless to make an animation yourself.

[ChrisAnt]

Agreed, it's not a model. And frankly, this has revealed absolutely nothing about how elephants move that you couldn't get from going to the zoo or watching a nature program. I worked on 10,000BC (not that I'm proud of it) and our animators would have worked this out in about 4 seconds from watching footage of elephants walking and running. Don't ask why the mammoths are sprinting in the film though... long story.

[ridingisasport]

ChrisAnt, no offence but I didnt like that movie....At the time when Gastornises(????) walked around the nearest thing you could get to a horse would be a deerlike thing,not a pony and certainly not a horse capable of carrying a man. I doubt its possible to train a mammoth and the sabretoothed CATS (not tigers)are four or five times too big. This is not directed at you,but I wish the movie industry would produce something remotely possible sometime..

[ChrisAnt]

Haha... No worries... no offence taken. I hated it too! And the existence of horses is frankly minor in the grand scheme of logic (or lack thereof) in the movie!

But you have to remember that it's a movie and you have to push things for artistic merit and temporal cadence of a sequence. 100% physically real or not, our mammoths still looked great. The story on the other hand... well that's a whole other matter!!

[ridingisasport]

True all about artistic merit.Now that you mention it,the mammoths did look real,minus the whole domestication thing.And the climate thing. Were you on the team that did them?

[ChrisAnt]

Not sure what you mean by the climate team - it was all shot on location.

[Avatarfan117]

Thats weird when I run I run on my toes ONLY. jk

[ccskate]

so the fuck wat?

[saintaureus]

Oh, I get it. It's only showing the two nearest legs. At first I thought it was the rear legs but that didn't make sense after seeing it move.

[mukmin01]

nothing special...

[Fahim00717]

Why the fuck it's showing two legs instead of Four? Why do we need computer to identify if they walk like us (humans)?

This Video Fails!

[kaylon99]

z = 1 + i

[RexRapt0r]

so?

[ashtooon]

elephants cant run, since to run requires all feet off the floor at once, and elephants cant jump, because 15% of their body weight is bone, and if they did jump/run it would probably break their legs.

[Truthiness231]

Actually, I don't think running is limited to all four legs on the ground; cheetahs, for example, sort of do a hop between front and back legs, but it's still considered running. I've never heard anyone remark "cheetahs are incredibly fast jumpers", but rather "runners". ^.^

I'd still like to know how humanity has improved now that researchers know how an elephant runs...

[pubtor]

elephantz haz got 2 legs only?

[shaolindreams]

this reveals... jack shit

[adriant200]

wow, thats some wierd 2 legged elephant xD lol

[JWJSSIF]

enlightening. Truly enlightening.

[Jmcenanly]

Half an elephant,way. Didn't the ILM team do the same sort of study back in 1978

[TabarnacosFilms]

Robert : Hey !? do you wanna cure cancer ?

Andrew : Nah, lets replicate the walking of an elephant on a computer !

Robert : AWESOME

[Mystro256]

lol, that made me laugh so hard

[NicNasty1981]

that must be the most pathetic computer model ive seen in a long time! What do we live in the 80s? It wouldnt of been impressive then either!

[Clavera]

cool, I have always wondered how elephants moved...

[dafttool]

I may be getting old & feebleminded, but the last time I checked, elephants had 4 legs.

[fathead431]

lol

[clownschuhe]

This research was funded by the Ministry of Silly Walks.

[Truthiness231]

+1 ^.^

I think what people fail to see here are the future applications; how else are we going to know how to program wire-frame elephant robots to walk?

[Ilovegeetar]

lame xD

[mguse123]

someone was lazy :)

[joelsfallon]

This video was rushed, Didnt like it :(

[Freemmaann]

weird

[Guiprazeres]

interesting...

[0wn3g3t1m3]

wierd!

[nickmusic12]

eh not the best video haha

[G4stOpher]

O.K. fine with me :-)