What's it
like to be
an animal?

If you're six feet tall, 10 miles per hour probably doesn't feel very fast. But what if you were just six inches tall, like a squirrel? Relative to the size of your body 10 mph would be quite a bit faster. This site shows the top speeds of animals, and how fast they would be going if they were your size (ie, what their speed feels like to them).

Animals: land air water insect
feet meters
Graph: top speed feels like

Imagine what it's like for a tiny insect to jump and fly as quickly as they do. They might cover 40 body lengths in a second. To a six-foot person that's 164 mph. This site tries to understand how it feels to move like a fly, a squirrel, a cat, a rhinocerous, or a falcon.

Land Animals

African Bush Elephant African Bush Elephant
Loxodonta africana
top speed 24.9 mph
feels like 6.5 mph

African Wild Dog African Wild Dog
Lycaon pictus
top speed 45 mph
feels like 81.1 mph

black mamba black mamba
Dendroaspis polylepis
top speed 20 mph
feels like 10.6 mph

Brown Bear Brown Bear
Ursus arctos
top speed 21.7 mph
feels like 15.7 mph

cheetah cheetah
Acinonyx jubatus
top speed 74.6 mph
feels like 99.4 mph

coyote coyote
Canis latrans
top speed 42.9 mph
feels like 85.7 mph

domestic cat domestic cat
Felis catus
top speed 29.8 mph
feels like 107.4 mph

Eastern Gray Squirrel Eastern Gray Squirrel
Sciurius carolinensis
top speed 12.4 mph
feels like 79.9 mph

elk elk
Cervus canadensis
top speed 45 mph
feels like 57.8 mph

Galapagos tortoise Galapagos tortoise
Geochelone nigra
top speed 0.2 mph
feels like 0.3 mph

garden snail garden snail
Helix aspersa
top speed 0 mph
feels like 1.7 mph

giraffe giraffe
Giraffa camelopardalis
top speed 32.3 mph
feels like 11.2 mph

gray fox gray fox
Urocyon cinereoargenteus
top speed 42 mph
feels like 74.1 mph

greyhound greyhound
Canis familiaris
top speed 39.5 mph
feels like 96 mph

grizzly bear grizzly bear
Ursus arctos
top speed 34.8 mph
feels like 25.1 mph

horse horse
Equus ferus caballus
top speed 54.7 mph
feels like 49.2 mph

house mouse house mouse
Mus musculus
top speed 8.1 mph
feels like 161.6 mph

lion lion
Panthera leo
top speed 49.7 mph
feels like 32 mph

Mongolian wild ass Mongolian wild ass
Equus hemionus
top speed 39.8 mph
feels like 31.8 mph

ostrich ostrich
Struthio camelus
top speed 43.5 mph
feels like 31.3 mph

pig pig
Sus domestica
top speed 11 mph
feels like 22 mph

Polar Bear Polar Bear
Ursus maritimus
top speed 18.6 mph
feels like 13.9 mph

Pronghorn Pronghorn
Antilocapra americana
top speed 60.9 mph
feels like 78.3 mph

rabbit rabbit
Sylvilagus floridanus
top speed 29.8 mph
feels like 119.3 mph

red kangaroo red kangaroo
Macropus rufus
top speed 43.5 mph
feels like 39.1 mph

roadrunner roadrunner
Geococcyx californianus
top speed 19.9 mph
feels like 66.3 mph

six-lined race runner six-lined race runner
Cnemidophorus sexlineatus
top speed 18 mph
feels like 162.2 mph

Spotted Hyena Spotted Hyena
Crocuta crocuta
top speed 39.8 mph
feels like 55.1 mph

Thomson's gazelle Thomson's gazelle
Eudorcas thomsoni
top speed 40.4 mph
feels like 90.9 mph

white-tailed deer white-tailed deer
Odocoileus virginianus
top speed 30 mph
feels like 28.4 mph

wildebeest wildebeest
Connochaetes gnou
top speed 39.8 mph
feels like 35.8 mph

zebra zebra
Equus zebra
top speed 40 mph
feels like 32.7 mph

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