Are Elephants The Only Animal That Can't Jump
Why Tin can't Elephants Leap?
Elephants accept many admirable qualities: They have an fantabulous sense of smell, rarely get cancer and have complex social lives. But, perhaps unsurprisingly, they can't jump.
It'southward hard to say why that is, largely considering scientists haven't specifically studied why elephants can't jump. Only it'south likely because of the animals' enormous heft, and because they have relatively weak leg muscles and adequately inflexible ankles, said John Hutchinson, a professor of evolutionary biomechanics at the Regal Veterinarian College in London.
"Animals that bound need really flexile ankles and really stiff Achilles tendons and calf muscles, and elephants take really wimpy lower-leg muscles and not very flexible ankles," Hutchinson told Live Scientific discipline. [Are Elephants Really Afraid of Mice?]
Hutchinson has fabricated it office of his life's work to report elephant locomotion. The animals typically walk long distances, only they seldom run, and merely do so for brusk distances, Hutchinson and his colleagues wrote in a 2010 written report published in the journal Proceedings of the National University of Sciences. This is probably considering elephants accept poor endurance for running, he said.
Moreover, the animals seem unable to go faster than 15 mph (nigh 24 km/h) when they run, the researchers wrote in the report. Hutchinson has also observed that when adult and babe elephants run, they do non go airborne. That ways that they always have at least ane foot on the ground, he said.
In contrast, other large animals do go airborne while running, he said. For instance, the rhino does, and it's not entirely clear why. "There must exist something nearly rhinos that makes them stronger [than elephants]," Hutchinson said.
Still, it's probably all-time that elephants don't endeavour to spring similar kangaroos. Jumping could lead to crippling injuries if the large beasts were to trip and fall, Hutchinson said.
In addition, most animals jump as a means of escape, an option elephants don't require, Hutchinson said. For instance, smaller and more athletic animals might utilise speed, flexibility and jumping to get away from predators. But elephants don't need to jump, partly considering "being big is a defense in and of itself," Hutchinson said.
He added that it's difficult to say why elephants don't jump, considering scientists can't prove a negative.
"Maybe elephants are choosing not to jump, and they're just being shy almost it," he joked.
Follow Laura Geggel on Twitter @LauraGeggel . Follow Live Science's Life'due south Little Mysteries @LLMysteries , Facebook & Google+ .
Laura is an editor at Live Scientific discipline. She edits Life's Little Mysteries and reports on general scientific discipline, including archaeology and animals. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Scholastic, Popular Science and Spectrum, a site on autism research. She has won multiple awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Washington Newspaper Publishers Clan for her reporting at a weekly newspaper nigh Seattle. Laura holds a bachelor's degree in English literature and psychology from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in science writing from NYU.
Source: https://www.livescience.com/54606-why-elephants-cannot-jump.html
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