How fast is a charging elephant

During sprints, fast-twitch muscles can only store a limited amount of energy, so smaller animals can quickly reach their maximum speed.

The trade-off between increasing size and muscle mass and increasing inertia means that cheetahs are much speedier than the infamous giant lizards.

As a result, animal speed increases, to a point. The researchers described the relationship between body mass and top speed using a relatively simple parabolic arc. Matt Burgess interviewed Myriam Hirt, lead author on the paper for Wired :. Hirt, from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research, explains the top speeds of an animal—including humans—comes down to acceleration.

Theoretically, Hirt says, if scaling of size and speed were linear an elephant would be able to reach a top speed of [ mph]. In reality they max out at about [21 mph]. The average walking speed was 4. But 32 of the elephants moved faster than previously documented -- up to 15 mph.

Three were especially fleet of foot, exceeding 15 mph -- 50 percent faster than anyone had ever reliably recorded, Hutchinson said. Past references gave anecdotes, not data. The result was a lot of confusion about elephant speeds. Said Hutchinson: "Here we actually have the videotape and data to back it up, whereas with an anecdote, like some big game hunter clocking an elephant with a speedometer on a car, it's just not reliable.

Seeing was believing -- these elephants were fast. I can only just barely sprint as fast as the fastest elephants we measured.

To run or not to run -- that is still the question. So what turns a walk into a run? It isn't just speed, although that plays a part. Kinematically, one thing that distinguishes walking from running is the footfall pattern. Typical quadrupeds use a walk at slow speeds, a trot at medium speeds and a gallop at fast speeds.

In the footfall pattern of a trot, diagonal limbs contact the ground at the same time. In contrast, in the footfall pattern of a gallop, the two hindlimbs touch the ground one after the other, followed by a pause, after which the two forelimbs touch the ground one at a time. If an animal's feet are on the ground less than half of the time, Hutchinson said, it meets the kinematic definition of running. But elephants are weird because no matter how fast they go, their footfall pattern doesn't change.

They use a walking footfall pattern even at 15 mph, the researchers found. That pattern has the left hind foot moving first, followed by a brief pause, after which the left front foot moves. Then there's a long pause, after which the same thing happens on the right side. An all-aerial phase -- where no feet are touching the ground -- also kinematically differentiates running from walking.

But elephants never have all their feet off the ground. One of the reasons I love elephants so much is that even though they are so big, they are actually pretty mysterious. Instead of training to outrun an elephant, learn how to acknowledge their behaviour so you never need to run away from one! These enormous animals are usually pretty docile. You could call them big friendly giants.

Rule 3 — Never use the flash on your camera. This is a certain way to have your safari vehicle flipped. Leopards are incredibly dangerous because you never know what they are thinking. Fortunately, elephants like to show how they feel. Flapping their ears is a way for elephants to cool down.

Flapping their ears repeatedly and at speed is a way for elephants to showcase their size. The other telltale sign is feet stamping. Usually the front feet come off the ground and kick up a load of dust when they come down. So remember, ear flapping plus feet stamping means the elephant is not in a good mood and could be very dangerous.

Elephants are clever and will direct their behaviour towards a target. For example, elephants will use this tactic to scare away a rival , a pride of lions, or a herd of buffalo drinking from their waterhole. If an elephant is stamping its feet and flapping its ears, while looking straight at you and the safari vehicle …then you must back away immediately. I have never understood how so many tourists have had dangerous encounters with elephants.

Stamping feet and flapping ears in your direction — the elephant is about to charge. However, some tourists think this behaviour is part of a dramatic show for their camera, so they keep taking the flash photos…until the elephant has flipped the vehicle and sent it rolling across the Kruger savannah. So the golden rule with elephants is to retreat when you experience the first warning.

Of course the big cats are faster than elephants. You can read more about the best places to watch elephants in Africa here. Also check out what sound an elephant makes. And if you want to encounter an elephant, take a look through our practical guide to planning an African safari. Editorial Team at Africa Freak is a group of expert Africa writers and influencers.