The movement of werewolves is discussed either in films, mythological books or by fictional story writers. Being combination of human and wolf form, werewolf adopts locomotion characteristics from both. According to the old true story of the famous French werewolf “The Beast of Le Gevaudan” there were reports that this werewolf was able to move both ways in biped and quadruped form (Eric, N.A).
Werewolves have a bipedal skeletal structure and so they prefer a bipedal position, it is still an odd, uncomfortable position, so they prefer to slouch. They have digitigrade legs, so they walk and fight on twos and run on fours. They have the ability to drop to four legs for short bursts of speed. The human back and pelvis are not meant for this type of running, unlike the canine pelvis which is actually almost ninety degrees angle to the spine, the human spine and pelvis are lined up for walking upright. This form of werewolf would have some dexterity like humans and an advantage to bite, claw, and savagery like wolf making it very dangerous beast.
The shoulder blades of a werewolf are on the sides of the rib cage near the back, giving the werewolf a sort of hunched appearance. Going on all fours simply means moving the blades farther forward along the rib cage, to give the forelimbs the necessary extra length. The advantage is, the werewolf can climb angles that are impossible for humans to climb, while still capable of standing erect when desired.
One of the important questions about movement of werewolves is whether they walk on knuckles or palms. Knuckle walking is when on all fours, animals use fingers of their forelimbs rolled into the hand, putting pressure on their knuckles. This might lead to problem with the movement of wrist in long run due to heavy pressure. Knuckle walking tends to evolve when the fingers of the forelimb are specialised for tasks other than locomotion on the ground. For example, gorillas use fingers for manipulation of food. While walking on palms would be easier for werewolf as they have pads to increase friction and larger wrist in comparison to a normal human hand to take load on the heavy body. I explored for some reference on human running on fours and in most of the cases; I found them using their palm rather than knuckles.
A werewolf walks quite different from a human, for example-A human puts his foot down, pivot at the ankle, and then put the other foot down. While werewolves put the foot-paw down, pivot on the foot-paw and ankle simultaneously. Humans sway from side to side while walking, whereas werewolves move slightly back and forth. Most of the body motion stops at the waist, leaving the upper body fairly still.
Werewolves have a bipedal skeletal structure and so they prefer a bipedal position, it is still an odd, uncomfortable position, so they prefer to slouch. They have digitigrade legs, so they walk and fight on twos and run on fours. They have the ability to drop to four legs for short bursts of speed. The human back and pelvis are not meant for this type of running, unlike the canine pelvis which is actually almost ninety degrees angle to the spine, the human spine and pelvis are lined up for walking upright. This form of werewolf would have some dexterity like humans and an advantage to bite, claw, and savagery like wolf making it very dangerous beast.
The shoulder blades of a werewolf are on the sides of the rib cage near the back, giving the werewolf a sort of hunched appearance. Going on all fours simply means moving the blades farther forward along the rib cage, to give the forelimbs the necessary extra length. The advantage is, the werewolf can climb angles that are impossible for humans to climb, while still capable of standing erect when desired.
One of the important questions about movement of werewolves is whether they walk on knuckles or palms. Knuckle walking is when on all fours, animals use fingers of their forelimbs rolled into the hand, putting pressure on their knuckles. This might lead to problem with the movement of wrist in long run due to heavy pressure. Knuckle walking tends to evolve when the fingers of the forelimb are specialised for tasks other than locomotion on the ground. For example, gorillas use fingers for manipulation of food. While walking on palms would be easier for werewolf as they have pads to increase friction and larger wrist in comparison to a normal human hand to take load on the heavy body. I explored for some reference on human running on fours and in most of the cases; I found them using their palm rather than knuckles.
A werewolf walks quite different from a human, for example-A human puts his foot down, pivot at the ankle, and then put the other foot down. While werewolves put the foot-paw down, pivot on the foot-paw and ankle simultaneously. Humans sway from side to side while walking, whereas werewolves move slightly back and forth. Most of the body motion stops at the waist, leaving the upper body fairly still.
Also when running on all fours the werewolf uses their hind legs for traction whilst the arms/front are more for steerage. The fingers will touchdown and then the wrist will rotate until the hind legs have moved under the belly to kick off again. In essence a series of graceful leaps punctuated my directional pushes with the hands.
ReplyDeleteGreat work.
Marc