What animal wins a race that's 100m in water then 100m on land

I think we'd all agree that flying creatures -- birds, fish, squirrels, bats, and so on -- can cover the full 200 meters faster than flightless creatures.

I'm going with the Hippo. Possibly a Komodo Dragon. I can't find any real solid info on their swim speed though, and have found a big range in their run speed.

15-20 mph run

6-10 mph swim

So I think it is between the moose and the otter.

Pronghorn antelopes can hit 61 mph, second only to the cheetah on this list:

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004737.html

The pronghorn body type is pretty similar to a moose (although it's smaller than the moose), so it might be able to challenge a moose in water.

Wyco Loco wrote:

I'm going with the Hippo. Possibly a Komodo Dragon. I can't find any real solid info on their swim speed though, and have found a big range in their run speed.

15-20 mph run

6-10 mph swim

Sorry dudes, let's just eliminate the Hippo right now. Lance-a-lot did give me a big laugh with his dismissive tone and embarassingly bad math. Guaranteed the otter can sprint swim 100m faster than it's average of 7mph. It can hold its breath and swim underwater for 2 mins, and I assure you (if you've ever seen them in person) that they glide through the water.

The alligator is interesting. If the earlier swimming speed is true (20mph), then it would be no contest. I find it hard to believe they can swim that fast, though. I mean, when in nature would they need to? Their hunting game (and thus entire evolution) is based on sitting still. At this point, it's looking like otter vs. gator in the championships.

Moose: 6mph in water, 35 mph on land

100m swim: 37.3 sec

100m dash: 6.4 sec

total: 43.7 sec

Otter: 6 mph in water, 18 mph on land

total: 49.7 sec

hippo: ?? mph in water, 30 mph on land

I don't see a hippo being much faster than moose in the water as they don't really swim but just run along the bottom - they do not really float.

The Polar Bear has the same stats as the moose.

Human:

100m dash world record 9.69 sec

100m freestyle swim WR 46.94 sec

total: 56.63 sec (even for a relay of fastest ever humans)

Crocodile: 10 mph in water, 7.5 mph on land

total: 52.4 sec

Leopard Seal: 30 mph in water, Could not find land speed but one book citing that they can run as fast an "ordinary man"

Swim: 7.5 seconds

Would only need to finish run in around 36 flat to beat the moose, which is just short of 10 min/mile pace. I think it's possible.

The polar bear can only reach 25mph on land. So it gets 46 seconds.

Big otters can reach 9mph in water so 37.3 seconds.

I dont think a seal has a chance have you seen them on land.

Leopard seals are only fast on ice, not dry land. I think holding the race on ice might not slow down the other animals much, but it would definitely play to the seals advantage.

Apparently when Shackleton's crew was stranded in the pack ice in Antartica, they would have someone stand near an opening in the ice until a leopard seal would jump out of the water. The baitman would then run back to the camp, seal in pursuit, where everyone would then beat the seal to death.

The dude with the embarrassing math said something about the Hippo's swim really being more of running along the bottom? If so, that's cheating. Deep water here.

Seems like the leopard seal would be great in the water but no good on land.

If there was a race, would Alan Webb be the best human for the job?

It's hard to find water speeds for land animals, but just check out this out from Wikipedia:

It is often cited as the second-fastest land animal, second only to the cheetah.[7] It can however sustain high speeds longer than cheetahs. University of Idaho zoologist John Byers has suggested that the pronghorn evolved its running ability to escape from extinct predators such as the American cheetah, since its speed greatly exceeds that of extant North American predators.[8] It has a very large heart and lungs, and hollow hair.

Big lungs and hollow hair = good buoyancy to go along with perhaps the best aerobic capacity of any animal.

hart crane wrote:

If there was a race, would Alan Webb be the best human for the job?

No

Velociraptor, or some other dinosaur

I think you (and everyone else) are mixing top end speeds with average speeds and forgetting accelerations. But maybe I am wrong. I just find it hard to believe that the moose would be able to bust out a 6.4 second 100. I bet it takes a long time to get to top speed of 35 mph. Those animals are huge!

I am going with a dead heat with the cheetah, leopard seal and the river otter. Cats can swim pretty well usually, though they hate the water.

Did you guys watch the video the guy put on the last page about the Hippos? They can OBVIOUSLY swim faster than everyone has been saying on here. The Hippo was chasing the boat and the Hippo was not just running along the bottem of the lake like many of you have suggested. That Hippo looked to clearly be going at least 15 mph in the water, listen to the engine of the boat when it is going away from the Hippo.

The Hippo is a serious contender. That moose was also moving pretty quick in the water but the Otter is most likely going to get out of the water first. It is however about twice as slow as the Moose and the Hippo over 100m.

Clearly the winner is a bird. It could fly over everything, straight to the finish line. It is like steeplechase, you don't have to go in the water.

I read that deer can swim 13mph. Prongy for the win?

Cant wrote:

Did you guys watch the video the guy put on the last page about the Hippos? They can OBVIOUSLY swim faster than everyone has been saying on here. The Hippo was chasing the boat and the Hippo was not just running along the bottem of the lake like many of you have suggested. That Hippo looked to clearly be going at least 15 mph in the water, listen to the engine of the boat when it is going away from the Hippo.

The Hippo is a serious contender. That moose was also moving pretty quick in the water but the Otter is most likely going to get out of the water first. It is however about twice as slow as the Moose and the Hippo over 100m.

Looks like they were running along the bottom though, I think they would be slower in shallower water.