Seems like I've missed quite a bit while I was moving up north. *glances through everything again* Hurrrrrrrrr, seems discussions got interesting on occasion.
Hmmm, I hope this will not offend anyone/everyone, but while I was moving I found myself rather bored with nothing to do when we stopped for the night, so I dragged out my anatomy books a paper and pencil and tried to find some basic skeletal structure that would work for the gestalt mode
...
Yes, when bored I either draw anatomical structures of animals I see around me or come up with anatomical sketches/designs of non-existant creatures. I never said I was NORMAL.
The first thing that I was forced to admit was that in order to be in a bipedal position for any period of time; the rib, pelvis, shoulders and spine had to be almost identical to human design for balance and supporting the internal organs.
To allow for detrigrade legs I altered the pelvis sligthly, adding an arch of bone above the hip joint to allow better distribution of weight while changing the angle of the ball and socket joint to allow the leg, at rest, to be at about 45 degrees from the main, as opposed to the humans 90 degree to the main. The shin tends to be held at a 135 degree angle from the main while the foot tends to be held at about 20 to 30 degrees, and instead of the legs facing directly forward as they do in humans, the feet tend to point out slightly as yo balance on the ball of your foot.
I legthened the spine slgihtly, while keeping it in the supple S of the bipedal design. On a male WW the shoulders would be about average width, though in females the shoulders would appear slightly 'wide' to allow quadripedal motion. To allow for Quad. motion the arms were legthened, the elbow joint dropping from midwaist to level with the bottom of the pelvis. The hands as a result drop from mid thigh to (with the legthened palms) knee height.
Due to the 'long palm' that Silver's Corner mentions the thumb would actually have to remain it's original length, though the other fingers could shorten about 1/3rd their initial length and still allow function. The fingers would have to be 'double-jointed' however, unless you want the WW to either
A: knuckle walk like a gorilla, or
B: sprain/snap it's wrist when it tries to walk/run by using the whole hand flat to the ground.
By Allowing the fingers to flex easily towards the back of the hand, and adding on calloced padding tot he ball of the hand, a WW can stand on it's 'toes' (simular to the Pack emblem of the partially shifted hand) with the opposable thumb held up and out of the way... rather like a very large dewclaw
the primary reason to keep your wrist straight when 'walking' (either wolf-like or knuckle walking) is that the wrist, like the ankle, can not take much weight when it is bent. The tendons strain or tear easily when the wrist is bent, the joints can not allow the stress to the transmitted along the arm, and the joints can pop out of place or even fracture, and shockingly easily, if you try to put even a fourth of your body weight on it bent. With the wrist straight, stress and shocks travel up the whole arm, lessening the effect.
By having the arms legthened as above mentioned, the torso is held level to the ground, relieving much of the stress the body endures. It also allows the hind legs to remain in an almost natural position, although they are far more flexed than in a true wolf.
Here's an experiment I did when we stopped off in Jacksonville on our way North. One of my cousins (Jane) has scoliosis, and has been using forarm crutches since she was five. Now, as her parents... okay, THEY'RE actually my cousins, but... well anyone that isn't a generation above or two below is called COUSIN in our clan. In any case, her parents were worried thattheir son (mike) might also develop scoliosis, so they kept Jane's old forarm cruthes, ones that are ajustable. With Jane's permission, I borrowed those old crutches and used them to simulate my therorised arm length for WWs and it's effects on bipedal locomotion... and to see if quadripedial locomotion was even truly feasible.
Some interesting things I discovered.
A: testing something like this is a good way to entertain younger family members. Apparently it's almsot as good as clowns.
B: Testing how to run with long arms on asphalt hurts. Alot
C: Stairs. Are. EVIL.
D: SAND. IS. WORSE.
E: Apparently even non family members will watch, laugh and (in some cases) even attempt/join in the experiment either cause it looks fun or to prove that their suggestions will work.
Things that I ended up inadvertanly proving
A: Keep the wrist STRAIGHT and if you HAVE to bend one make sure it's the NON-DOMINATE wrist for Pete's sake.
B: Running on your toes in human fashion with long arms (especially on beach sand/soft ground) means that you're likely to either smack yourself in the shins or catch your 'arm' under the knee. And falling on sand hurts more then you'd expect.
C: Stairs are evil
D: It's impossible to run more then three strides in a quadripedal manner. Even if I were to posses the margionally longer spine of a gestalt, it's just too hard to balance with the knees coming up as high as they do on the rib cage
E: There IS a way to run, it just takes experimentation.
To run in 'gestalt' form start out like a sprinter; 'hands' and arms vertical to the main, shoulders and neck slightly hunched, back marginally arched, legs drawn up under the body, flexed and tensed, toes digging into dround slightly for increased traction.
Once you start to run do so by 'pushing off' as a sprinter does. Keep your body canted forward (more then you usually do in a run). Your momentum will give you 3(on soft ground) to 8(on hard, even ground) strides before you start to loose your balance. Once you feel your self starting to loose your balance, lean forward slightly as you begin the next stride and 'catch' yourself on your 'hands'. Draw both legs up so that they land at close the the same point and the same time. This will result in you being, more or less, in the sprinters starting position again. Simply repeat this as you go. You'll be surprised how fast you go.
For going up stairs the only way that really worked was in quad-manner, though without fingers/claws I couldn't get good purchase, but WITH fingers/claws it would actually be easier then trying to lug ones mass up the stairs while keeping the body both vertical AND keeping the legs detrigrade. Down stairs I didn't even attempt but one would assume that quad. would provide better balance.
OH! Thing of important note is that canine ankles are simple hinge joints having only two directions of movement, as opposed to the human pivot joint. All the detrigrades I can think of are the same (hinge joints) This means that they can't turn as tightly as we can, as the only joint that would allow rotation of the leg is the hip joint. It also means that it is a far more durable joint and much less likely to twist or sprain.
Hurrrrrr, also, a point of note about the skull. If you shorten the muzzle by about 1/3rd to 1/4th it's initial length and give the gesalt 'thick' lips with the massive number of muscles controlling them that humans have, you would only have to margionally alter the tounge to allow rough speech.
That's all I can write down now... I have to go get dinner started, get prepped for tomorrow's work day.
*bows* MAy the road rise up to meet you and the wind be always at your back.
-Alteron