Re: Do elephants have knees?

Hello Carol,

Elephants most certainly do have knees! Check out this diagram to see for yourself:

As a matter of completeness, I should point out that all mammals (all tetrapod vertebrates, in fact) have knees. They may not look at all like our knees, but the bone structure of an elephant's leg is the same as ours: a single thigh bone (femur) and two lower leg bones (tibia and fibula). The following diagram shows the general structure of an elephant's knee. The labels are difficult to read, but the top bone is the femur, the large lower bone is the tibia, and the small lower bone is the fibula.

Comparing these diagrams to the front and side views of the bones of a human knee, you'll see that the knees of elephants and humans are quite similar:

If you're interested in learning more about vertebrate limb structure and evolution, this page has a very good summary and some excellent drawings.

Thanks for your question!

Allison J. Gong
Mad Scientist