# Can elephants jump?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-elephants-jump/737796
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [November 17, 2015, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-elephants-jump/737796 "2015-11-17T13:25:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@officious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/officious)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-elephants-jump/737796/1 "2015-11-17T13:25:55Z")
You say that elephants are so heavy that they can’t jump and the wild they keep at least three feet on the ground at all times. But a t-rex was as big as an elephant and it had only two legs, so presumably it often had only one foot on the ground. How did that work?
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-elephants-jump/737796/2 "2015-11-17T14:53:31Z")
It’s not actually a matter of weight. Animals of all different sizes, on average, all have about the same jumping ability. Some animals just aren’t built for jumping.
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-elephants-jump/737796/3 "2015-11-17T15:19:22Z")
[https://www.youtube.com/results?search\_query=baby+elephant+jump](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=baby+elephant+jump)
(Your definition of “jump” may vary)
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-elephants-jump/737796/4 "2015-11-17T17:10:17Z")
Only the white ones.
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### Author:  [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-elephants-jump/737796/5 "2015-11-17T18:12:04Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#):
>
> Only the white ones.
No, clearly white elephants can’t jump.
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### Author:  [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-elephants-jump/737796/6 "2015-11-17T18:30:39Z")
Remember don’t go into the jungle between 3 and 5.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2015, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-elephants-jump/737796/7 "2015-11-18T02:24:39Z")
I can honestly say I have never seen an elephant jump.
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### Author:  [@jbaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jbaker)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2015, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-elephants-jump/737796/8 "2015-11-18T18:06:36Z")
So is the Nairobi Elephant Jumping Festival a real thing?
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2015, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-elephants-jump/737796/9 "2015-11-18T22:38:11Z")
> [@jbaker](#):
>
> So is the Nairobi Elephant Jumping Festival a real thing?
I googled that for all of us. Found a half-dozen or so mentions of it – most of them, tracing the links back, lead to . . . wait for it! . . . One or both of **Jillgat** ’s columns! Found several other mentions of the Nairobi Jumping Elephant Festival, all of them suggesting in one way or another that it’s just a running joke of some sort. At least one of them even included a [photo of an elephant not jumping](https://strangefactsaboutanimals.wordpress.com/2011/05/11/elephants-cant-jump-or-can-they/). Assuming that isn’t photoshopped, I think that proves it.
I see the hand of Mark Twain lurking here somewhere.
As for T-Rexes (Reces?) jumping: Hey, did you know that whales and dolphins can jump too? And they don’t have any legs at all! [Photo sequence of orca jumping.](http://www.rolfhickerphotography.com/blogs/transient-killer-whale-breaching-british-columbia-coast-mountains.htm) (ETA: K-Roos jump, don’t they?)
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2015, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-elephants-jump/737796/10 "2015-11-18T23:59:58Z")
My take is juvenile elephants can jump, so elephants can jump.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2015, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-elephants-jump/737796/11 "2015-11-19T00:51:23Z")
> [@jbaker](#):
>
> So is the Nairobi Elephant Jumping Festival a real thing?
Not sure, but give your bank details to reserve a seat anyway.