Donald Henderson, now at the University of Calgary, developed a new way of looking at the locomotion
of dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasts while he was in Bristol. This work formed the basis of his
PhD.
Donald's technique is mathematical, involving modelling each leg segment as a separate pendulum, and
calculating its movements continuously. What you see here are not cartoon animations; each move is
calculated from first principles, using differential equations.
Look at Donald Henderson's amazing animations. Note that it may take a few seconds for all 10-15
frames to load up, and then the beast will start to walk!
Dinosaurs
Pterosaurs
Read more
- Henderson, D.M. (2004) Footprints, trackways, and hip heights of bipedal dinosaurs - testing
hip height predictions with computer models. Ichnos in press.
- Henderson, D.M. (2004) Biomechanics of dinosaurs. The Complete Dinosaur, Second edition,
in press.
- Henderson, D.M. and Unwin, D.M. (2004) 'Robodactylus': a mathematical and computational model of a
quadrupedally-walking, pterodactyloid pterosaur. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society,
in press.
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