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Gait Development In African Elephant Calves, Brandon Austin-Elizondo Knepper

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Most descriptions of elephant locomotion recognize only one gait: the lateral sequence walk. In contrast, several studies on African elephants (Loxodonta africana) have indicated that elephants use at least two other gaits: an amble and a trot. Other animals modify their gaits over the lifespan, but there is no published research on the gaits of elephant calves. The present study examines gait development in African elephant calves born at the Indianapolis Zoo between 2000 and 2015. I conducted frame-by-frame analysis on the gait samples of six calves across two time periods: Early (zero to six months of age) and Late …