Emperor penguin vs House cat
Emperor penguin (1.15 m) is 2.5× the size of house cat (46 cm).
2 house cats stacked on end would reach the height of emperor penguin. The gap between them is 69 cm (2.26 ft).
The comparison in numbers
| Thing | Size | In feet | Measured as |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emperor penguin | 1.15 m | 3.77 ft | standing height |
| House cat | 46 cm | 1.51 ft | head-and-body length |
What the scale shows
Emperor penguin (1.15 m) is 2.5× the size of house cat (46 cm). The gap between them is 69 cm (2.26 ft). Both are animals, so the figures describe the same kind of thing.
Draw both on one baseline and the smaller one fills 40% 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 emperor penguin is its standing height (an adult (1.1–1.3 m)). The figure for house cat is its head-and-body length (an adult).
Crossing them
Walking pace is 1.4 m/s, so crossing emperor penguin's 1.15 m takes 821 milliseconds and house cat's 46 cm takes 329 milliseconds.
In people: emperor penguin is 0.7 adults of 1.7 m tall, house cat is 0.27. By size emperor penguin is 20th of the 23 animals on this site and house cat is 21st, so 1 place separates them in the ranking.
How to read these two figures
Before trusting any comparison, check what each number measures. The emperor penguin is given as a standing height, an adult (1.1–1.3 m). The house cat is given as a head-and-body length, an adult. One is a standing height and the other is a head-and-body 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 emperor penguin is number 83 from the top and the house cat is number 84. 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 2.5× is easy to picture, but area and volume grow faster than length. If two objects had exactly the same shape, the emperor penguin would have about 6.25× the surface or footprint of the house cat, and about 15.6× 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 house cat is drawn 40% as tall as the emperor penguin, but the equivalent share of footprint would be only 16%, 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 emperor penguin in 115 milliseconds and the house cat in 46 milliseconds. Sound, at about 343 m/s in air, takes 3 milliseconds for the larger and 1 milliseconds for the smaller. A jet cruising at 900 km/h needs 5 milliseconds and 2 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 2.5× ratio as the sizes.
The same figures in other units
The emperor penguin measures 1.15 m, which is 3.77 ft or 1.3 yards. The house cat measures 46 cm, which is 1.51 ft or 18.1 inches.
The difference between them is 69 cm (2.26 ft). In metres the smaller one is 0.46 against 1.15, so the 2.5× ratio holds in every unit; only the numbers on the ruler change.
Questions people ask about this pair
Which is bigger, the emperor penguin or the house cat?
The emperor penguin is bigger. At 1.15 m it is 2.5× the size of the house cat, which is 46 cm.
How many times does the house cat fit along the emperor penguin?
2 whole times, with 23 cm left over, using 46 cm for each.
Are the two figures measured the same way?
No. The emperor penguin is a standing height (an adult (1.1–1.3 m)) and the house cat is a head-and-body length (an adult), so read the comparison as overall extent.
How does the gap look in people?
Taking an adult of 1.7 m, the emperor penguin is about 0.7 people tall and the house cat is about 0.27. The gap of 69 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.