# What animal has the most momentum? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 13, 2005, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115 "2005-04-13T12:32:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/21 "2005-04-14T12:25:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The blue whale is certainly the biggest critter, and that speed is quite respectable, but I’m not ready to hand it the title just yet. Mightn’t there be some other whale which is smaller, but also enough faster to make up the difference? I am, however, pretty well convinced that the champ will be a whale of some sort (unless it’s possibly a giant squid). Good point. However, most of the big whales can only get to about 8 ms[sup]-1[/sup]. The sei whale is the fastest of the big ones, able to get up to about 10 ms[sup]-1[/sup]. The sei only weighs in at around 50 tonnes max, so the extra speed doesn’t make up for the lack of mass. Much smaller toothed whales can go faster, e.g. a killer whale can hit about 13 ms[sup]-1[/sup], but they only get to about 10 tonnes, so again, the smaller size doesn’t compensate. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/22 "2005-04-14T13:03:49Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Wouldn’t a Rhino of some sort be in there somewhere? - weight in the multiple thousands of pounds. Or the hippo. They weigh about 5 tons and can achieve 25-30mph in short sprints. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/23 "2005-04-14T16:20:20Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Among birds, didn’t there used to be eagles that ate the extinct moa by diving into them and knocking them down? And then when people killed all the moa they had to kill all the eagles too because people are too easy to kill like you kill a moa? I can’t find where I read that. I just read a moderately scholarly tome with several chapters devoted to early NZ fauna and there was no mention of this. So the answer to your question is probably no. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/24 "2005-04-14T16:51:03Z")
The eagle in question is no doubt [Haast’s Eagle](http://home.hetnet.nl/~harrie.maas/speciesinfo/haastseagle.htm). > [@](#): > > Haast’s eagle was the largest eagle ever to have lived and is the only eagle in the world ever to have been top predator of its ecosystem… > > The Maori seemed to have called the bird Te Pouakai or Te Hokioi… it was a legendary bird, reputed to carry off and devour men, women and children. > > The eagle attacked a variety of flightless birds found in New Zealand including the now extinct moas. It would launch itself from a high perch onto its prey and strike at the moa’s side. Its large talons grasped the hindquarters of the moa, and killed it by inflicting deep crushing wounds that caused massive internal bleeding. The moa perished from shock or blood loss. Over a dozen fossil moa have been found with gashes and punctures from eagle claws on their pelvis. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/25 "2005-04-14T19:26:37Z")
Sorry my response was unclear. I knew about Haast’s Eagle and that it killed moa. It’s the people bit (that the eagle killed them and that the people therefore killed the eagles) that I doubt. Particularly since the book in question (Tim Flannery’s “TheFuture Eaters”) is specifically on the question of what extinctions humans caused. I think it is much more likely that humans simply ate to extinction the Haast Eagle’s usual food sources. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/26 "2005-04-14T19:40:59Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > I think it is much more likely that humans simply ate to extinction the Haast Eagle’s usual food sources. You are almost certainly correct about this. There’s no good reason to believe that Haast’s Eagles could successfully shift from moa to human prey. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/27 "2005-04-14T20:44:33Z")
With regard to land mammals, what about the polar bear? ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/28 "2005-04-14T21:41:23Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > what about the polar bear? With an extreme weight of 2200lbs, it would have to run more than 10 times the speed of the giant elephant cited in post #11. I think polar bears can be quick when pressed, but I expect 200mph is out of their range. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/29 "2005-04-14T23:35:05Z")
What about a giant elephant flying a McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle? 26,400 pounds at 1650 mph. ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/30 "2005-04-15T00:06:56Z")
Were any of the large pterosaurs built for diving attacks? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/31 "2005-04-15T00:38:21Z")
Even Quetzelcoatlus, the largest of the pterosaurs, was only 65 kg. It’d take one hell of a dive for it to catch up with an elephant, momentum-wise. Does anyone know the stats for a giant squid? I’d imagine that they would get pretty fast, while jetting. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/32 "2005-04-15T00:57:08Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Does anyone know the stats for a giant squid? I’d imagine that they would get pretty fast, while jetting. Well, we’ve never been able to study a live giant squid but squid don’t weigh much. I think one washed up on shore a few years ago in New Zealand and was 60ft long and weighed about 500lbs. But I think some have been recorded as being bigger than that, although, I don’t think any more than 200ft long. Let’s say we triple the mass, that’s still only 1500lbs. Still not even a ton. It would have to move pretty damn fast to match the blue whale. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/33 "2005-04-15T01:04:29Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Does anyone know the stats for a giant squid? I’d imagine that they would get pretty fast, while jetting. Googling produced one claim that these range in weight up to 1000kg, though 100-300 appears more likely; no estimates of speed. I’d guess that 30 knots might be possible, though perhaps optimistic - there’s a lot of drag to a squid. An avenue we haven’t explored is an Apollo astronaut. With escape velocity approaching 1000 times what a blue whale can do, and a mass of, say, 100kg, we might have a contender. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/34 "2005-04-15T01:14:05Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > Well, we’ve never been able to study a live giant squid but squid don’t weigh much. I think one washed up on shore a few years ago in New Zealand and was 60ft long and weighed about 500lbs. But I think some have been recorded as being bigger than that, although, I don’t think any more than 200ft long. Let’s say we triple the mass, that’s still only 1500lbs. Still not even a ton. It would have to move pretty damn fast to match the blue whale. I think I may have actually seen that thing (or one of its hapless cousins), preserved and on display, at Te Papa, the NZ National Museum in Wellington. Big, but nowhere near as big as a Blue Whale (a likeness of which I have stood beneath in our own national museum in Washington). ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/35 "2005-04-15T02:25:36Z")
I haven’t seen anything better than **Finagle** ’s answer on this. For kinetic energy I’d put my money on the cheetah. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/36 "2005-04-15T04:20:01Z")
Wow, I didn’t realize that krakens were that small. OK, yeah, they’re out of the running. > [@](#): > > An avenue we haven’t explored is an Apollo astronaut. With escape velocity approaching 1000 times what a blue whale can do, and a mass of, say, 100kg, we might have a contender. And rightly so, since the OP specified “other than humans”. Nor do I think we ought to consider Laika the dog (who I suspect was the largest non-human animal in orbit): It seems reasonable to me to limit ourselves to an animal’s natural modes of propulsion. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/37 "2005-04-15T05:28:16Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And rightly so, since the OP specified “other than humans”. Nor do I think we ought to consider Laika the dog (who I suspect was the largest non-human animal in orbit): It seems reasonable to me to limit ourselves to an animal’s natural modes of propulsion. And a darn shame it is, too. I was going to suggest one particular human, Capt. Joe Kittinger, on his high altitude freefall…assuming a weight of over 200 lbs with gear and a maximum velocity of over 600mph he would have packed quite a whallop. Nowhere near an astronaut but rockets…feh… ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/38 "2005-04-15T12:46:56Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > I think I may have actually seen that thing (or one of its hapless cousins), preserved and on display, at Te Papa, the NZ National Museum in Wellington. Big, but nowhere near as big as a Blue Whale (a likeness of which I have stood beneath in our own national museum in Washington). They actually have two of them preserved at the Smithsonian, they’re a bit disappointing in size. A blue whale is truly ginormous though. It’s impossible to really get a feel unless you stand near a likeness. A friend of mine saw one on a whale watching trip, she said it was amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/39 "2005-04-15T13:15:06Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Wow, I didn’t realize that krakens were that small. OK, yeah, they’re out of the running.And rightly so, since the OP specified “other than humans”. Nor do I think we ought to consider Laika the dog (who I suspect was the largest non-human animal in orbit): It seems reasonable to me to limit ourselves to an animal’s natural modes of propulsion. There are chickens and turkeys that have managed to break the sound barrier. That’s got to be a lot of energy. But this was with NASA’s help, so they are probably disqualified as well. Besides, they were dead before they started moving and were utterly destroyed after they went through the cockpits and windshields they were testing. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2005, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115/40 "2005-04-15T13:54:08Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > There are chickens and turkeys that have managed to break the sound barrier. . . .they were. . .destroyed after they went through the cockpits and windshields they were testing. You’re supposed to thaw them out first. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-animal-has-the-most-momentum/299115.md?page=3)