African bush elephant vs Komodo dragon
African bush elephant (3.2 m) is 1.23× the size of Komodo dragon (2.6 m).
Komodo dragon is 81% of the height of African bush elephant. The gap between them is 60 cm (1.97 ft).
The comparison in numbers
| Thing | Size | In feet | Measured as |
|---|---|---|---|
| African bush elephant | 3.2 m | 10.5 ft | shoulder height |
| Komodo dragon | 2.6 m | 8.53 ft | length |
What the scale shows
African bush elephant (3.2 m) is 1.23× the size of Komodo dragon (2.6 m). The gap between them is 60 cm (1.97 ft). Both are animals, so the figures describe the same kind of thing.
Draw both on one baseline and the smaller one fills 81% of the frame while the larger one runs to the top. The two are close enough that the difference is easy to see side by side.
Read the rest — 8 more sections
What each figure means
The figure for African bush elephant is its shoulder height (an adult bull). The figure for Komodo dragon is its length (an adult male on average).
Crossing them
Walking pace is 1.4 m/s, so crossing African bush elephant's 3.2 m takes 2.3 seconds and Komodo dragon's 2.6 m takes 1.9 seconds.
In people: African bush elephant is 1.9 adults of 1.7 m tall, Komodo dragon is 1.53. By size African bush elephant is 12th of the 23 animals on this site and Komodo dragon is 13th, so 1 place separates them in the ranking.
How to read these two figures
Before trusting any comparison, check what each number measures. The African bush elephant is given as a shoulder height, an adult bull. The Komodo dragon is given as a length, an adult male on average. One is a shoulder height and the other is a length, so the drawing stands them side by side by convention: everything is stood upright on a single baseline so one scale can hold. That is a fair way to compare overall extent, not a claim that the two are oriented the same way in real life.
Animal sizes vary from one individual to the next, so each figure says which individual or average it describes. Heights are taken at the shoulder or standing; lengths run nose to tail tip unless stated.
Where the pair sits among all the sizes here
Across all 86 things on this site, the African bush elephant is number 75 from the top and the Komodo dragon is number 76. No other item falls between them, so in this collection they are direct neighbours.
Because the collection spans 13 mm up to 1,392,700 km, a ratio of 107,130,769,231× from smallest to largest, the position of a pair says a lot: both sit in the lower third of the list.
What the length ratio hides
A length ratio of 1.23× is easy to picture, but area and volume grow faster than length. If two objects had exactly the same shape, the African bush elephant would have about 1.51× the surface or footprint of the Komodo dragon, and about 1.86× the volume. For animals volume tracks weight, which is why a long animal is far heavier than its length suggests, and why a small animal cannot simply be a scaled-down copy of a large one.
The drawing above shows length only. The Komodo dragon is drawn 81% as tall as the African bush elephant, but the equivalent share of footprint would be only 66%, which is why the smaller one looks even slighter than the numbers alone suggest.
Time to cross each one
A sprinter holding about 10 m/s covers the African bush elephant in 320 milliseconds and the Komodo dragon in 260 milliseconds. Sound, at about 343 m/s in air, takes 9 milliseconds for the larger and 8 milliseconds for the smaller. A jet cruising at 900 km/h needs 13 milliseconds and 10 milliseconds.
These times assume a straight line and constant speed, which no real crossing has, but they turn a number in metres into something the body understands. At any fixed speed the travel times keep the same 1.23× ratio as the sizes.
The same figures in other units
The African bush elephant measures 3.2 m, which is 10.5 ft or 3.5 yards. The Komodo dragon measures 2.6 m, which is 8.53 ft.
The difference between them is 60 cm (1.97 ft). In metres the smaller one is 2.6 against 3.2, so the 1.23× ratio holds in every unit; only the numbers on the ruler change.
Questions people ask about this pair
Which is bigger, the African bush elephant or the Komodo dragon?
The African bush elephant is bigger. At 3.2 m it is 1.23× the size of the Komodo dragon, which is 2.6 m.
How many times does the Komodo dragon fit along the African bush elephant?
Less than twice: the Komodo dragon is 81% of the size of the African bush elephant, so one fits with 60 cm to spare.
Are the two figures measured the same way?
No. The African bush elephant is a shoulder height (an adult bull) and the Komodo dragon is a length (an adult male on average), so read the comparison as overall extent.
How does the gap look in people?
Taking an adult of 1.7 m, the African bush elephant is about 1.9 people tall and the Komodo dragon is about 1.53. The gap of 60 cm is 0.4 people.
Where do the numbers come from?
Each item has its own page that names the measurement and links to the Wikipedia article it was taken from. Some figures are rounded, and animals vary from one individual to the next, so treat them as representative values rather than records for every case.
How the sizes are taken. Each figure says what it measures — height, length, diameter or elevation — and for which individual or convention. Everything is drawn standing upright on one baseline so a single scale holds, including things that are long rather than tall. Values come from the linked Wikipedia article for each item.