An strong young male African elephant weighs in at between 8,000 and 10,000 pounds. It can lift (with its trunk) about one-fourth of this body weight, or a bit over 2,000 pounds.
Humans, of course, can do a better ratio than that. I've done better than two-to-one in my younger days, on a bet. ];-)
As far as I know, however, the record for lifting power-to-weight ratio is not a rhinocerous, but a rhinocerous beetle -- which can lift 850 times its own weight.
I don't think that the butting would work as well as the pull. Butting places all the force on the forehead area, which in an elephant is relatively unreinforced. The lower part of an elephant's skull is strong, in order to support the weight of tusks.
In pulling, the weight is distriubuted across (mostly) the load-bearing shoulders and limb bones (and musculature). I have not seen "push" figures, but for the pull I've seen quotes of 500 kilos to "half its weight" (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/06/20/ING2976LBP1.DTL).
It occurs to me that the proper way to measure this is force, not weight being dragged, because the surface interface between the weight and ground would make all the difference.
What you're looking for, I think, would be how much pull an elephant can exert against a horizonal rope or chain which runs over a pulley and is lifing a heavy weight vertically.
It's certainly in the thousands of pounds, but an elephant's legs don't grip the ground well enough to make this approach his own weight. He wouldn't have the traction. (An animal with that much traction would be able to climb well, and elephant's can't do that.)
Random aside: When shipping elephants, hundreds of years ago, arriving ships would simply herd the animals off the side of the ship -- they would hit the water, then swim ashore -- and not overstress the loading ramps.
I don't yet see a direct measurement of pull or push capacity. I certainly expect that it is going to be large compared to humans, and rather less impressive on a pure power-to-weight ratio basis.
And less powerful than, say, a blue whale -- who can swim faster than the "tiny-by-comparison" elephant can run.
I wonder where humans rank in lifting ability -- not proportionally, but for total weight. We must be in the top 10, if only because so few creatures have an appendage made for lifting.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2006-01-25 06:29 pm (UTC)Humans, of course, can do a better ratio than that. I've done better than two-to-one in my younger days, on a bet. ];-)
As far as I know, however, the record for lifting power-to-weight ratio is not a rhinocerous, but a rhinocerous beetle -- which can lift 850 times its own weight.
===|==============/ Level Head
no subject
Date: 2006-01-25 07:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-25 07:33 pm (UTC)===|==============/ Level Head
no subject
I guess Elephants need to be fitted out with Roll Cages before they're allowed on the track.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-25 09:03 pm (UTC)CYa!
Mako
no subject
Date: 2006-01-25 07:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-25 08:02 pm (UTC)In pulling, the weight is distriubuted across (mostly) the load-bearing shoulders and limb bones (and musculature). I have not seen "push" figures, but for the pull I've seen quotes of 500 kilos to "half its weight" (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/06/20/ING2976LBP1.DTL).
It occurs to me that the proper way to measure this is force, not weight being dragged, because the surface interface between the weight and ground would make all the difference.
What you're looking for, I think, would be how much pull an elephant can exert against a horizonal rope or chain which runs over a pulley and is lifing a heavy weight vertically.
It's certainly in the thousands of pounds, but an elephant's legs don't grip the ground well enough to make this approach his own weight. He wouldn't have the traction. (An animal with that much traction would be able to climb well, and elephant's can't do that.)
Random aside: When shipping elephants, hundreds of years ago, arriving ships would simply herd the animals off the side of the ship -- they would hit the water, then swim ashore -- and not overstress the loading ramps.
I don't yet see a direct measurement of pull or push capacity. I certainly expect that it is going to be large compared to humans, and rather less impressive on a pure power-to-weight ratio basis.
And less powerful than, say, a blue whale -- who can swim faster than the "tiny-by-comparison" elephant can run.
===|==============/ Level Head
no subject
Date: 2006-01-29 09:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-29 01:39 pm (UTC)===|==============/ Level Head
no subject
Date: 2006-01-25 09:16 pm (UTC)