Elephant- Legs and feet

An elephant's legs are big straight pillars, as they must be to support its bulkiness. The elephant needs not as much of muscular power to stand because of its straight legs. For this reason an elephant can stand for very lengthy periods of time without tiring. In fact, African elephants rarely lie down unless they are sick or injured. However, Indian elephants lie down in general.
The feet of an elephant are almost round. African elephants contain three nails on each hind foot, and four on each front foot. Indian elephants contain four nails on each hind foot and five on each front foot. Beneath the bones of the foot is a rough, gelatine-like material that acts as a cushion or shock absorber. Under the elephant's weight the foot swells, but it gets slighter when the weight is removed. An elephant can go down deep into mud, but can pull its legs out readily because its feet become smaller when they are lifted.An elephant is a good swimmer and climber, but it can trot, run, jump, nor gallop. It has only one step, a sort of gliding shuffle, which it can step up to the speed of a human runner. There are few animals that can pass through farther in a day than the elephant.