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 40 km/h
feels like 10.4 km/h

African Wild Dog African Wild Dog
Lycaon pictus
top speed 72.5 km/h
feels like 130.5 km/h

black mamba black mamba
Dendroaspis polylepis
top speed 32.2 km/h
feels like 17 km/h

Brown Bear Brown Bear
Ursus arctos
top speed 35 km/h
feels like 25.2 km/h

cheetah cheetah
Acinonyx jubatus
top speed 120 km/h
feels like 160 km/h

coyote coyote
Canis latrans
top speed 69 km/h
feels like 138 km/h

domestic cat domestic cat
Felis catus
top speed 48 km/h
feels like 172.8 km/h

Eastern Gray Squirrel Eastern Gray Squirrel
Sciurius carolinensis
top speed 20 km/h
feels like 128.6 km/h

elk elk
Cervus canadensis
top speed 72.4 km/h
feels like 93.1 km/h

Galapagos tortoise Galapagos tortoise
Geochelone nigra
top speed 0.3 km/h
feels like 0.4 km/h

garden snail garden snail
Helix aspersa
top speed 0.1 km/h
feels like 2.7 km/h

giraffe giraffe
Giraffa camelopardalis
top speed 52 km/h
feels like 18 km/h

gray fox gray fox
Urocyon cinereoargenteus
top speed 67.6 km/h
feels like 119.3 km/h

greyhound greyhound
Canis familiaris
top speed 63.5 km/h
feels like 154.5 km/h

grizzly bear grizzly bear
Ursus arctos
top speed 56 km/h
feels like 40.3 km/h

horse horse
Equus ferus caballus
top speed 88 km/h
feels like 79.2 km/h

house mouse house mouse
Mus musculus
top speed 13 km/h
feels like 260 km/h

lion lion
Panthera leo
top speed 80 km/h
feels like 51.4 km/h

Mongolian wild ass Mongolian wild ass
Equus hemionus
top speed 64 km/h
feels like 51.2 km/h

ostrich ostrich
Struthio camelus
top speed 70 km/h
feels like 50.4 km/h

pig pig
Sus domestica
top speed 17.7 km/h
feels like 35.4 km/h

Polar Bear Polar Bear
Ursus maritimus
top speed 30 km/h
feels like 22.3 km/h

Pronghorn Pronghorn
Antilocapra americana
top speed 98 km/h
feels like 126 km/h

rabbit rabbit
Sylvilagus floridanus
top speed 48 km/h
feels like 192 km/h

red kangaroo red kangaroo
Macropus rufus
top speed 70 km/h
feels like 63 km/h

roadrunner roadrunner
Geococcyx californianus
top speed 32 km/h
feels like 106.7 km/h

six-lined race runner six-lined race runner
Cnemidophorus sexlineatus
top speed 29 km/h
feels like 261 km/h

Spotted Hyena Spotted Hyena
Crocuta crocuta
top speed 64 km/h
feels like 88.6 km/h

Thomson's gazelle Thomson's gazelle
Eudorcas thomsoni
top speed 65 km/h
feels like 146.2 km/h

white-tailed deer white-tailed deer
Odocoileus virginianus
top speed 48.2 km/h
feels like 45.7 km/h

wildebeest wildebeest
Connochaetes gnou
top speed 64 km/h
feels like 57.6 km/h

zebra zebra
Equus zebra
top speed 64.4 km/h
feels like 52.7 km/h

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