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Constant_Breadfruit t1_jdrrnkf wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in Can elephants canter or gallop? by [deleted]

This is not very satisfying but it does not have a name. Elephants are unique in their size. I watched the video closely a number of times. For part of the charge, the footfall pattern indeed matches a gallop. But you’re only halfway there because all 4 feet need to be off the ground at some point and that can’t happen. This gait as far as I can tell does not have a name in English.

noun: gallop the fastest pace of a horse or other quadruped, with all the feet off the ground together in each stride.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/elephant-locomotion/

https://www.animatornotebook.com/learn/quadrupeds-gaits

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[deleted] OP t1_jdtky6k wrote

This answered my question. Thank you very much.

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Van-garde t1_jds85xl wrote

The double-suspension is wonderful. I also found the camel at pace very pleasing. Thanks for sharing

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FickleSycophant t1_jdtxf0y wrote

So the word “gallop” has been around and used to describe the fastest pace of a horse for a long time, but it’s my understanding that we didn’t discover that all four feet were off the ground at the same time until the early days of photography demonstrated it. So it’s hard to believe that the term gallop requires all four feet off the ground when we didn’t even know horses did that until maybe 150 years ago.

Edit: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-19th-century-photographer-first-gif-galloping-horse-180970990/

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