Idea Transcript
This site uses cookies for analytics, personalized content and ads. By continuing to browse this site, you agree to this use.
Learn more
I was wondering: how do Elites swim? I obviously think they can, that isn't the issue here. I was just curious as to how.
Because of their body structure they can't really perform the freestyle the way a human would do it (knee structure), so what would they do? Let me know what you think. Please be courteous in your responses. There is enough toxicity out there as it is.
I think they just wouldn't. I can't find anything on digitigrade animals swimming, and the only kind I can think of that would
swim are birds. And birds, being, well, birds, are pretty different from bipedal, humanoid reptiles.
Wouldn't they need to swim, for survival at least? Tread water maybe? What about playing in the pool? I am not saying
your wrong, in any way, just that wouldn't it make sense for them to be unable to swim, or at least keep afloat so they didn't drown? If I missed your point, please let me know.
Charred Panther wrote:
Wouldn't they need to swim, for survival at least? Tread water maybe? What about playing in the pool? I am not saying your wrong, in any way, just that wouldn't it make sense for them to be unable to swim, or at least keep afloat so they didn't drown? If I missed your point, please let me know.
Their arms might let them tread water, but for full-on swimming, I can't see them being able to do that, at least not without a lot of struggling.
They could probably perform the breaststroke sufficiently enough to propel them through water. I think it would depend on
how heavy their feet are. Their feet almost look like hooves, but that may just be the armor. That being said, horses can swim and they have hooves, so heavy feet wouldn't necessarily prevent swimming...
I feel like they would almost swim frog style but I don't know enough about Elite biology to know for sure.
Chimera30 wrote: They could probably perform the breaststroke sufficiently enough to propel them through water. I think it would
depend on how heavy their feet are. Their feet almost look like hooves, but that may just be the armor.That being said, horses can swim and they have hooves, so heavy feet wouldn't necessarily prevent swimming...
Like size 1,000 lol
EMPEROR NOVA01 wrote: I can't find anything on digitigrade animals swimming
Uhhhhhh... I'm not trying to be rude, but... really? Digitigrade (and, by extension, unguligrade, a more extreme version of digitigrade) animals don't swim? Canines swim (dog paddling, anyone?) Cats swim (hell jaguars and Bengal tigers are practically semi-aquatic they spend so much time in and around water, and hey lemme introduce you to the Prionailurus cats, at least two species of which - the fishing and flat-headed cats - not only eat primarily to almost exclusively fish and amphibians but who have webbing between their toes; the leopard cat is an odd one, having the most thoroughly-webbed toes of the Prionailurus group, but eating little in the way of aquatic prey) Deer swim (there's even a deer called a water deer, for crying out loud) Elk swim Horses - wild, feral, and domestic - swim; they may not like it but they can and they will Wildebeest swim Ever heard of a critter called a water buffalo? Like they're not called that because they hate water. Moose? Pigs? Rhinos, tapirs, civets, genets, caribou, cattle...? I don't know where you were looking for info, but... my dude... digitigrade animals swim. If they live in an area where there's water, chances are they can and will swim. Limb structure has absolutely no bearing on whether or not they can swim (because digitigrade and plantigrade animals can all swim; whether a given animal bears its weight on the tips of its toes, its distal and intermediate phalanges, or the soles of its feet is entirely irrelevant to that fact.) Since the games can't seem to decide on whether or not Elites have long or very short/almost nonexistent toes, foot structure has no bearing (see: literally every hoofed ungulate ever, plus hippos, rhinos, and elephants.) And weight has no bearing on whether or not they can, either (because I seriously doubt that even the heaviest Elite weighs as much as a 1,400lb bull moose, much less an elephant - and both moose and elephants swim just fine.) What matters is buoyancy, and whether or not they a.) can keep water out of their respiratory tract, b.) can coordinate their limb movements in such a way as to facilitate horizontal or vertical motion, and c.) have the physical strength necessary to move themselves through the water... And these things, unless something happens to alter the history of the House of Vadam, canonically aren't issues. An Elite in armor most likely wouldn't be able to swim, because said armor would both increase their mass and decrease their buoyancy, dragging them under and causing them to drown. But out of their armor? There's absolutely no reason to think that they couldn't or wouldn't swim. And when they did swim, they could dog paddle, or use a front/forward crawl, breaststroke, butterfly stroke, trudgen, sidestroke, or turtle stroke. A proper backstroke would probably not be feasible for them because of the structure of their necks, but they could still swim backwards using a sort of inverted butterfly stroke called the oarstroke or moth stroke. Plus they could perform virtually any diving stroke and most rescue strokes, sculling, treading water, the dead man's float, and the turtle float (back and jellyfish floating, though, would most likely be too uncomfortable due to anatomy.) Also, considering their height (taller = faster) and vastly superior upper body strength (superior physical strength in general, really,) Elites probably swim better than we do and I would not want to be the poor -Yoink- who met a hostile one in the water.
DeceptiChic wrote:
EMPEROR NOVA01 wrote: I can't find anything on digitigrade animals swimming
Uhhhhhh... I'm not trying to be rude, but... really? Digitigrade (and, by extension, unguligrade, a more extreme version of digitigrade) animals don't swim? Canines swim (dog paddling, anyone?) Cats swim (hell jaguars and Bengal tigers are practically semi-aquatic they spend so much time in and around water, and hey lemme introduce you to the Prionailurus cats, at least two species of which - the fishing and flat-headed cats - not only eat primarily to almost exclusively fish and amphibians but who have webbing between their toes; the leopard cat is an odd one, having the most thoroughly-webbed toes of the Prionailurus group, but eating little in the way of aquatic prey) Deer swim (there's even a deer called a water deer, for crying out loud) Elk swim Horses - wild, feral, and domestic - swim; they may not like it but they can and they will Wildebeest swim Ever heard of a critter called a water buffalo? Like they're not called that because they hate water. Moose? Pigs? Rhinos, tapirs, civets, genets, caribou, cattle...? I don't know where you were looking for info, but... my dude... digitigrade animals swim. If they live in an area where there's water, chances are they can and will swim.
I was mainly focusing on bipedal digitigrade animals, so, uh, other than birds, I couldn't find anything about them. Should have made that clear. And, yeah, you are correct. Leg structure shouldn't really affect swimming, since they'd figure out their own way to swim. Wouldn't have to look similar to the way people (or any terrestrial animals, for that matter) swim at all.
I seem to remember Shadow of Intent mentioning a hero of Sangheili lore swimming secretly up to a castle to rescue
someone so...
since elites are shown to have superior upper body strength, I image they just use the arms for propulsion, leaving their
legs to drag behind.
Nate Keklen wrote:
since elites are shown to have superior upper body strength, I image they just use the arms for propulsion, leaving their legs to drag behind.
It's possible, but I think they'd still be able to use their legs. Like others have said, it wouldn't have to look like humans kicking. They would have figured out a way of using their legs in the water.
Code of Conduct
343 Careers
United States - English
Contact us
Privacy & cookies
Terms of use
Trademarks
About our ads
© 2017 Microsoft