Can elephants jump?

Is it true that elephants are the only quadrupeds than can’t jump?

That’s question recently asked at New Scientist’s Last Word feature. Someone asks a question and anybody gives an answer. Check them out here.

Elephants cannot jump, from level ground anyway. This is true even when they are babies, as far as we know, but they are not alone. Probably all turtles cannot truly jump. It is also likely to be true for some salamanders and large crocodiles, some chameleons and other lizards.

In fact, the statement is almost certainly not true even if restricted to mammals. Hippos probably cannot or do not jump, along with moles and other burrowing mammals, sloths, slow loris and other climbing specialists.

However, the truth is that no researchers have looked at this question in a rigorous way. We don’t even know specifically why – in terms of detailed anatomical mechanisms and physics – any of these animals cannot jump.