I recently heard that elephants are the only animals that cannot jump -- is this true?

Several sites, such as this one, and this one say that elephants are the only mammal that can't jump. This site specifically says elephants can't jump.

However, this follow up site says that Afrifan elephants can jump!

This could still be an unsolved question or an urban legend.

The bones in an elephant's foot are closely packed together so they do not have the flexibility or spring mechanisms that would enable them to jump.

I suspect that there are several animals, even mammals, that cannot jump. Can anyone imagine a walrus jumping? A Sea Elephant? Not knowing if a hippo can run (as opposed to walking very fast, as an elephant does*), I can't say that a hippo can run, either.

*Obviously, I am not buying the Straight Dope's position that an elephant can jump. Since the difinition of running requires all legs to be off the ground at one time, elephants do not run; they merely walk very fast, faster, in fact, than a human can run. If an elephant cannot get all four legs off the ground at one time, how can it jump?

DG, elephants are the only mammals with legs that can't jump. Obviously mammals without legs aren't included in this.

Absolutely none of the sites I have seen that claim on have that condition. I also, as above, at least question if whatever the mode of locomotion hippos use to travel fast is actualy running.

White elephants can't jump.

"White elephants can't jump."

I rest my case.

Since the definition of running requires all legs to be off the ground at one time, elephants do not run; they merely walk very fast, faster, in fact, than a human can run. If an elephant cannot get all four legs off the ground at one time, how can it jump? --DG

From LiveScience.com, report of a motion-capture study at University of London: Elephants Do Run, Study Concludes.

quote:

...fast-moving elephants have a springy step that qualifies them as runners within the animal world...although elephants don't lift all four feet at once, a previous definition of running, they showed signs of using their legs like pogo sticks, compressing and rebounding with each step...Many animals are now known to bounce without leaving the ground —- many birds, insects, and Icelandic ponies for example. Even at their top speed of 15 mph, elephants keep one or two feet on the ground at all times.

The study, however, did not address whether elephants can fly...

If they want to change the definition of running, that's OK with me, but I doubt that most experts will agree.

I'll stick with the "previous definition of running", especially since the site goes on to point out that "elephants keep one or two feet on the ground at all times." Note that in Olympic walking, the difference between walking and running is that walking requires at least one foot be on the ground at any given time.

The site also seemd to have an elephant's top speed wrong. Almost every site that mentions an elephant's top speed, and several TV programs, have spoken of at least 25mph. Since it is known that an elephant can move faster than a running man, and a running man can move faster than 15 miles an hour,...