Speed of Animals

African Bush Elephant

Loxodonta africana
length weight top speed (running) feels like
6.9m 8t 40km/h 10.4km/h

Elephants swim well, but cannot trot, jump, or gallop. They do have two gaits: a walk; and a faster gait that is similar to running. In walking, the legs act as pendulums, with the hips and shoulders rising and falling while the foot is planted on the ground. With no “aerial phase”, the faster gait does not meet all the criteria of running, as elephants always have at least one foot on the ground.

However, an elephant moving fast uses its legs much like a running animal, with the hips and shoulders falling and then rising while the feet are on the ground. In this gait, an elephant will have three feet off the ground at one time. As both of the hind feet and both of the front feet are off the ground at the same time, this gait has been likened to the hind legs and the front legs taking turns running. Although they start this “run” at only 8 km/h, elephants can reach speeds up to 40 km/h (25 mph), all the while using the same gait. At this speed, most other four-legged creatures are well into a gallop, even accounting for leg length. Spring-like kinetics could explain the difference between the motion of elephants and other animals

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.

Similar Animals

African Bush Elephant African Bush Elephant
Loxodonta africana
top speed 40 km/h
feels like 10.4 km/h

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

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

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

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