can eliphants jump?

Answer 1

No, elephants cannot jump. They lack the flexibility in the knees and the vertical strength in their legs - they are forward and backward moving creatures only.

Answer 2

During my work as a zoologist and eco-tour guide, I only once saw a young male elephant jump to get out of the way of a roadhog driver in a truck of the Botswana Conservation dept. That was in Chobe National Park in Northern Botswana (July 2001). I First thought to report the driver to the park uathorities but the elephant seemed fine so I let it go.

Answer 3

We talked to a bunch of elephant experts and none of them has ever seen an elephant jump. Most think it is physiologically impossible for a mature elephant to jump, although baby elephants have been known to do so, if provoked. Not only do mature elephants weigh too much to support landing on all fours, but their legs are designed for strength rather than leaping ability. Mark Grunwald, who has worked with elephants for more than a decade at the Philadelphia Zoo, notes that elephant’s bone structure makes it difficult for them to bend their legs sufficiently to derive enough force to propel the big lugs up.

Yet there are a few sightings of elephants jumping in the wild. Veterinarian Judy Provo found two books in her college library that illustrate the discrepancy. S. K. Ettingham’s Elephant lays out the conventional thinking: “… because of its great weight, an elephant cannot jump or even run in the accepted sense since it must keep one foot on the ground at all times.” But an account in J. J. William’s Elephant Bill describes a cow elephant jumping a deep ravine “like a chaser over a brook.”

Animals that are fast runners or possess great leaping ability have usually evolved these skills as a way of evading attackers. Elephants don’t have any natural predators, according to the San Diego Wild Animal Park’s manager of animals, Alan Rosscroft: “Only men kill elephants. The only other thing that could kill an elephant is a fourteen-ton tiger.”

Most of the experts agree with zoologist Richard Landesman of the University of Vermont that there is little reason for an elephant to jump in its natural habitat. Indeed, Mike Zulak, an elephant curator at the San Diego Zoo, observes that pachyderms are rather awkward walkers, and can lose their balance easily, so they tend to be conservative in their movements.

But that doesn’t mean that elephants are pushovers. Why bother jumping when you can walk through or around just about everything in your natural habitat? In India, trenching has been the traditional way of trying to control movements of elephants. Veterinarian Myron Hinrichs, of Petaluma, California, notes that the traditional trench has to be at least two meters deep, two meters across at the top, and one and one-half meters across at the bottom to serve as a barrier for elephants:

That tells us that they can’t or won’t try to jump a distance of 6.5 feet. But these trenches have a high failure rate, for elephants can fill them in, especially in the rainy season, and then walk across the trough they have made. And larger bull elephants can go down through and up even a trench that size.

Why leap when you can trudge?

Answer 4

Someone told me an elephant can neither jump nor turn its head to look behind.

Answer 5

"Eliphants" better known as Elephants, can jump as well as you can spell!

Answer 6

no-- they are the only animal that can not jump!! neat fact

Answer 7

lol, its not impossible, but to be real, i dont think they can unless they have went under extreme training and conditioning and if they have the will or reason to

Answer 8

no. elephants are one of the only animals on earth that cant. sorry.

Answer 9

elephants yes that can

Answer 10

No, but dey sho' can fly!