Episode 5: Elephants, Cats, and Ticking Clocks

Unlike a lizard where the limbs are sprawled out to the sides, most mammals have drawn their limb bones vertically beneath the body.  What are the functional advantages of such a posture? And what does all this have to do with Dr. Bonnan almost being creamed by an African elephant?

Podcast Teaser: I learned the real meaning of the word “awesome” during a close encounter with an African elephant.  A colleague and I were in an animal park in South Africa, and we had spied a large, lone male elephant walking towards our car.  As I was taking pictures of the elephant, our car was suddenly traveling in reverse with my colleague uttering frantic expletives.  It was at this point I noticed that the elephant was picking up speed and coming right for us.  On attempting to turn the car around, we became stuck, and now our fate was left to a very large mammal.  In my cleverness, I rolled up the car window, as if that would protect me from 6 tons of muscle and bone!

• Along the Backbone – Episode 5: Elephants, Cats, and Ticking Clocks

References / Further Information

• Liem, K.F. et al. 2001. Functional Anatomy of the Vertebrates, 3rd Edition. Thomson-Brooks/Cole Publishers.


• McGowan, C. 1999. A Practical Guide to Vertebrate Mechanics. Cambridge University Press.