which is faster - a camel or a horse?

[scm1001]

I was watching “The mummy” last night, and there was a race across perhaps a mile of hard sand between the heroes(ines) on camels and the rest on horses. The camels won, but in we argued about which was likely to win in real life. I would have though a horse was better built for speed - but any real dope?

[Duckster]

Too little information.

Define your course/environmental parameters first and then ask your question.

Are we talking speed, sheer endurance, shortest possible time? Across hard sand, soft sand, dirt, rocks, a level playing field (:D), up and down hills, a groom course, yadda, yadda?

In the rain, a sunny day, blistering heat, frigid cold? Hours/days without water and/or food?

Get the picture?

FWIW, I’ll take a camel.

[kniz]

I’m not sure, but does this information help?

Several strains of dogs have been bred for extreme speed. The fastest of all seems to be the saluki of Arabia, or the related Afghan hound, which can step out at 43 mph and overtake the fastest Arabian horse. Greyhounds and whippets sometimes reach 35 or 40 mph in dog races.

A man has run one Mile in a trifle over four minutes; a ridden horse in a little more than 1-1/2 minutes. The distance record for a horse ls reputed to be 100 miles in 8 hours and 58 minutes; for a racing camel (dromedary): 115 miles in 12 hours.

Do a google and look for “The Improbable Horse”. Such a search will provide this information on racing animals.

[ul][a.] racehorse: top speed is 42.5 m.p.h.
[b.] greyhound: top speed is 37 m.p.h.
[c.] human: top speed is 22 m.p.h.
[d.] racing camel: top speed is 22 m.p.h.

[/ul]

Here is another bit of interesting information on racing camels

In horse breeding a successful stallion can sire fifty to eighty foals a year, and may go to its grave with a thousand living descendants. But the preferred racing camels are female; the males are relatively ill-tempered and difficult to deal with. Each pregnancy lasts thirteen months, and in a typical reproductive lifetime of twenty years a camel may bear no more than about twelve calves. Here’s an added element of torment for breeders: a camel’s racing life potentially extends for many years beyond its reproductive maturity, and each pregnancy means the loss of more than a year of competition by what may be one of the fastest racing camels in Arabia.

[rsa]

A camel has got to be faster than a human.

From here: http://camelphotos.com/RacingCamelsP1.html

Racing camels top speed 40 mph.
Can run at 25 mph for one hour
or 12 mph for up to 18 hours.

[MC_Master_of_Ceremonies]

I saw the film too, SCM, I think that the terrain and the heat are key here, as though a camel is slightly slower than a horse, I imagine running across a hot dry desert it would easily be able to get up to it’s top speed, while the horse would have more difficulty.

[scm1001]

thanks people - there seems to be soem conflicting information above
[a.] racehorse: top speed is 42.5 m.p.h.
[b.] greyhound: top speed is 37 m.p.h.
[c.] human: top speed is 22 m.p.h.
[d.] racing camel: top speed is 22 m.p.h.

and From here: http://camelphotos.com/RacingCamelsP1.html

quote: Racing camels top speed 40 mph.
Can run at 25 mph for one hour
or 12 mph for up to 18 hours.

---

after a lot of googling (OK I should have done it first but I’m so lazy) I have come to the conclusion that camels can only run half as fast as a horse (e.g. see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2000/10/22/wcam22.xml

" Camel racing is less frenetic than horse-racing - the top speed for a camel is a leisurely 17mph, whereas a horse can easily run at 30mph"

so I guess the “mummy” was not true after all!

[Skammer]

I submit that a camel’s wide-toed feet give it the advantage running across sand, vs. a horse’s hooves. The horses would wear out much more quickly.

If it was a one-mile sprint, across hard sand, the horses would still probably be faster.

[Lure]

I submit that a camel’s wide-toed feet give it the advantage running across sand, vs. a horse’s hooves. The horses would wear out much more quickly.
If it was a one-mile sprint, across hard sand, the horses would still probably be faster.

You’re right about the first part,but one mile is no sprint to a racehorse.(unless he’s Dr.Fager)The top times mentioned are probably quarter horses,who only achieve that speed for a 1/4 mile.After that they’re pretty much gassed.

A racehorse on a deep/tiring track (equivalent to some degree of packed sand) will run a mile in around 1 min.40 sec.,about 36 MPH.The camel under these conditions should take about 3 mintes.

The horse wins under these conditions,matter of fact would look like Secretariat in the Belmont to the camel.In the worse sandy conditions the camel could prevail,but I’m talking powdery dune type sand.