Which animal could run the fastest marathon?

Dwain Chambers dog?

Last semester in my evolution unit for biology our prof claims that in warm conditions a human would dominate any other animal. A lot of our features indicate that we have evolved to be great at distance running (so we can compete against other animals that are faster in the short run). Things like smaller feet, bipedialism, lack of a lot of hair, perspiration, and muscles that steady our head while we run (so it doesn't bob and sway from side to side) were points that he made. Supposedly, in a warm climate any other animal would die of exhaustion from over heating in a marathon distance race. Funny thing was there was an article that appeared in Running Times just a few days after he lectured us on this. I sent it to him and he was pretty happy to see it. Here it is.

http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=15131

Didn't pretty much every African animal evolve in hot conditions? So I'd guess an antelope would be fine with the heat.

It is baffling how some guys will mention animals that have low maximal speed and fairly low endurance abilities as well.

It is pretty much a guarantee that the winner is some form of African Antelope or the American Pronghorn and possibly the predators that pursue them.

Animals that routinely fall prey to hyenas aren't going to be much of a factor.

There are animals that specialize in getting away for extended periods of time and those which pursue for extended periods of time.

The top contenders as pursuers would be the Hyena and African Wild dog(and possibly the Asiatic Dhole) and also perhaps one of the extinct varieties of North American Plains Wolf that may have pursued Pronghorn in the past.

A relatively lightweight heat adapted speed animal is a prime contender.

Gazelle.

Wikipedia says they can sustain speeds of 50mph for long periods of time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gazelle

Lou Sassol wrote:

Gazelle.

Wikipedia says they can sustain speeds of 50mph for long periods of time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gazelle

If they could sustain 50mph for about 30 minutes, that's how long it would take one to finish a marathon. Pretty reasonable I guess...

What a great question!

Happening: Animal Farm Olympics

Sponsors: LetsRun, United Nations, Charles Darwin Foundation, The nation of Congo,and Nike

Event: Animal Marathon

Contestants:

1. Hyena

2. Antelope

3. Ostrich

4. Horse

5. Greyhound

6. Camel

7. Wolf

8. Gazelle

9. Kangaroo

10. cyhofl (human)

11. Cheetah

Mitigating Circumstances:

-The hyena, wolf, cheetah and greyhound skipped the carbo-loading spaghetti on the eve of the race due to dietary concerns. Instead, they feasted on Angus Beef.

-The antelope and gazelle demanded to eat in a different room away from the carnivores due to some pretty bad history between them and the meat eaters.

-To date, the United Nations has not intervened on behalf of the herbivores

-Cyhofl wondered if Steve Austin, the bionic man, should have been the representative for the human race.

-Victor Conte offered supplements to cyhofl. Cyhofl declined, fearing eternal and unforgiving wrath from LetsRun posters.

-The nation of Congo set up a 42 km fenced-in corridor to keep the contestants on course.

-On the left side of the corridor was a pole with a terrified rabbit attached to it

-On the right side of the corridor was a pole with a salad. There was thus plenty of motivation for all of the contestants except cyhofl.

The Race:

The cheetah zoomed to a blazingly fast start. It had eyes only for the rabbit. The antelope and gazelle glided about 10 meters back, content to let the cheetah lead. The hyena, used to the chase-and-kick strategy, bided its time in fourth. The kangaroo, ostrich, and the horse settled into the back of the pack and hoped to run negative splits. They had made a deal that if any of the three won the race, to share the salad. The camel rode a little behind with the greyhound, but skipped the water stops, hoping to make up time there. The wolf was not sure what it had gotten itself into, and struggled to keep up. Steve Austin had lent bionic glasses, developed by Nike, to cyhofl. Even though cyhofl was pretty far back, he could keep his eyes on the other competitors. He didn�t like the constant beeping noise though.

30 KM:

The cheetah had burned out, and was suffering from lactic-acid buildup. To the front of the race blazed the antelope and gazelle, followed hotly by the hyena. The kangaroo hopped slightly behind the hyena, ready to make a strike at any moment�s notice. Also in contention was the greyhound and the ostrich, its powerful legs surging it forward. Even though the finish line was 12 km away, it wouldn�t be long before it was over. The horse, wolf, cheetah, and camel had fallen off the pace, but each was determined to finish the race. Cyhofl had settled into a nice rythym, but could not see the terrified rabbit or the salad. His only companions were the continual beeping of his Nike Bionic X1.0 See-Faring Lenses, and the constant jeering of the crowd of animals all across the Congo, who had gathered across the countryside to witness this historic inaugural event. Long suppressed by humanity in general, the animal audience vent out their full fury and derison at cyhofl, for they saw him as a fitting and telling symbol of human dominance and tyranny. Meanwhile, back in New York, the UN greater assembly watched the race unfold on the big screen as the finish line came into sight�.

RESULTS:

1. Antelope 28:51.54

2. Gazelle 28:51:77

3. Hyena 28:53.02

4. Kangaroo 28:53.61

5. Ostrich 29:11.33

6. Greyhound 29:15.84

7. Cheetah 38:02.39

8. Camel 44:16.20

9. Wolf 46:55:18

10. Horse 48:46.49

11. Cyhofl 3:26:44

QUOTES:

Antelope: �I was very happy about this race. Since it was only 42 KM, I knew I could hold off the hyena. The gazelle was such a good runner. We ran side by side the whole way!�

Gazelle: �Well, I gave it my best shot. It was real close, but the antelope just had longer horns today, and a bigger stride. The antelope deserved the win and the salad, but I can always go down to Wendy�s and buy a salad if I want.�

Hyena: �I�m still mad�..This race should have been 50 KM�Me and my buddies will come back next year and rip this race apart��

Kangaroo: �Awww....I needed another hop. It was a great race. I�ll just do some plyometrics and get ready for next year. G�day, mate!�

Cyhofl: �Man, I need to lose some weight��

POSTRACE:

The Antelope selected as its national anthem song, �I Will Always Love You�, by Whitney Houston, UN Rep. Kofi Annan listened to the concerns of herbivores and their demands for equal animal rights, the terrified rabbit was set free, the salad was devoured by the antelope, the cheetah got a rub-down underneath the medical tent, the horse was bought by a wealthy arab, the gazelle exchanged cell-phone numbers with the antelope, the camel complained about feeling heavy from drinking all that water before the race, and Nike Rep. Alberto Salazaar pulled cyhofl off to the side and said, �I can knock 70 minutes off your marathon time, but you�ll have to move to Oregon.�

You are all wrong ! The world's greatest endurance athlete is the sled dog, these animals have endurance/stamina/speed that is second to none. They are like the Bekele's of 5000m running, and most importantly they love it, and can continue to do it for days and days at a time with little recovery needed !

Henry Rono rules !!!

But sled dogs are built to bull heavy shit and are much heavier than other dogs like a Saluki. A saluki would beat a sled dog in a marathon if it didn't have to carry anything.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saluki

Bumping this because the article in the other thread gives props to the ostrich.

In case you missed it, here is the article:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/outdoors/sports/physics/animal-kingdom-top-marathon-runners

From this thread:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=3947653&page=0

Why wasn't this article around 2 years ago when we really needed it?

with flats or trainers.

Wow, it's almost as though the author read this thread. Seems like the Let's Run crowd nailed this one...

PDubbs wrote:

Wow, it's almost as though the author read this thread. Seems like the Let's Run crowd nailed this one...

The author of the article is an idiot who can't even do basic math (30 MPH over 26+ miles yields 45 minutes?!?)

Pronghorn would win by miles (literally). Absolutely no contest.

A human is the only animal that possesses both the physical and mental ability to complete a marathon. Who cares how fast a pronghorn can run and for how long? It isn't going to understand the objective and rules of the race, so it is not going to complete the race at all.

My greyhound can run damn near 40mph. I'll still beat him in a 400m race because he doesn't know that we're racing and will probably just go lie down somewhere while I'm running. Similarly, a pronghorn isn't going to beat a person in a marathon.

Humans win wrote:

A human is the only animal that possesses both the physical and mental ability to complete a marathon. Who cares how fast a pronghorn can run and for how long? It isn't going to understand the objective and rules of the race, so it is not going to complete the race at all.

My greyhound can run damn near 40mph. I'll still beat him in a 400m race because he doesn't know that we're racing and will probably just go lie down somewhere while I'm running. Similarly, a pronghorn isn't going to beat a person in a marathon.

Depends on how the course is set up and the rules laid out.

Making the assumption of current marathon courses and conditions is 100% biased toward humans - rendering the conclusion that humans would win because they are the only ones understanding the objective about as meaningful as a cooking contest in which one of the contestants is also the taster and judge.

my brain just exploded from all of the contradictions in the pronghorn section of that PM feature:

"max speed: 55mph"

"Pronghorn Antelopes, on the other hand, can maintain speeds of 60 mph for miles at a time. "

"the Cheetah, the fastest animal on the planet, can only sustain its top speed of 70 mph for approximately 700 yards."

"If the Cheetah and pronghorn were running side by side, and if the track was longer than a quarter of a mile, the pronghorn would win it, no contest,"

"Best/Average Speed for 20+ Miles: 30 mph"

"Estimate Marathon Time: 45 minutes" (35 mph average)