While hippos are known for their speed both on land and in water, they would face insurmountable difficulties during a the biking portion.
Hippos have short, stout legs relative to their bulky body size. Even if we entertain the hypothetical scenario of a hippo magically being able to ride a bike, these short legs would severely restrict their pedaling efficiency.
Their weight, coupled with the slow biking speed resulting from their short legs, would most likely cause any lead from the swimming and running stages to dissipate rapidly.
Additionally, despite their intimidating size and strong jaws, hippos are not carnivorous by nature, but rather herbivores with a diet primarily composed of grasses. While they can be aggressive if they perceive a threat, they don’t typically target humans as food. Therefore, the scenario of a hippo eating a competitor during a the other stages is extremely improbable.
All things considered, a relatively fit human athlete would still have a considerable edge in a triathlon competition against a hippo. ✌️💛
While hippoes are surprisingly agile in water and surprisingly fast runners, they are not known for their endurance.
Hippoes would probably have an advantage while swimming due to a body adapted to water.
Hippoes don’t sweat and have a very thick skin, so they would overheat quickly when running. The same thing applies to cycling, but with a bike designed for their body, I’d think they’ll do better cycling than running. Their hind legs are about 70cm long (according to ChatGPT), so not that short. Shorter crank arms are required. The hind legs are super strong, so that would be a significant advantage, especially when the bike is holding their body weight.
A treadmill bicycle, or a treadmill bike, essentially functions by having the user walk or run on a treadmill platform that then powers the wheels of the bicycle. In theory, this could be more suited to a hippo’s physiology than a traditional bicycle, as it would utilize the hippo’s natural gait.
However, even with this adaptation, the hippo would still face significant challenges. First, the sheer size and weight of a hippo (up to 3,000 kilograms or 6,600 pounds) would necessitate an extremely robust and large treadmill bike, likely much larger and heavier than any existing design.
Second, even though the treadmill bike would allow the hippo to use its natural walking or running motion, the speed of the bike would still be limited by the hippo’s walking or running speed. Given that hippos’ top speed is 32 kph (20 mph) and this is only achievable for short sprints, a sustained speed on the treadmill bike would likely be significantly lower, especially over the 40-kilometer bike segment of the triathlon.
Third, the endurance issue remains a key factor. Hippos are not built for long-distance speed or endurance. Their large body size requires significant energy to move and maintaining a high speed for a lengthy period would likely exhaust them quickly.
Taking all these into account, an average human athlete would still have a significant edge in a triathlon competition, even if a hippo could use a specially designed treadmill bike.
Now, if that hippo was some anomaly of a freak, evolved to run long distance, then we are all screwed.
While hippos are known for their speed both on land and in water, they would face insurmountable difficulties during a the biking portion.
Hippos have short, stout legs relative to their bulky body size. Even if we entertain the hypothetical scenario of a hippo magically being able to ride a bike, these short legs would severely restrict their pedaling efficiency.
Their weight, coupled with the slow biking speed resulting from their short legs, would most likely cause any lead from the swimming and running stages to dissipate rapidly.
Additionally, despite their intimidating size and strong jaws, hippos are not carnivorous by nature, but rather herbivores with a diet primarily composed of grasses. While they can be aggressive if they perceive a threat, they don’t typically target humans as food. Therefore, the scenario of a hippo eating a competitor during a the other stages is extremely improbable.
All things considered, a relatively fit human athlete would still have a considerable edge in a triathlon competition against a hippo. ✌️💛
While hippoes are surprisingly agile in water and surprisingly fast runners, they are not known for their endurance.
Hippoes would probably have an advantage while swimming due to a body adapted to water.
Hippoes don’t sweat and have a very thick skin, so they would overheat quickly when running. The same thing applies to cycling, but with a bike designed for their body, I’d think they’ll do better cycling than running. Their hind legs are about 70cm long (according to ChatGPT), so not that short. Shorter crank arms are required. The hind legs are super strong, so that would be a significant advantage, especially when the bike is holding their body weight.
Maybe the bicycle could be a treadmill bike, with some form of water tank adapted, to keep them cool.
Is that AI generated or do you have a hippo and a hippo’s bike rig
Let’s leave it to the imagination haha
I’m imagining that you are that hippo and are browsing Lemmy on your phone (phablet, obvs) whilst using your exercise bike
/c/thedidthemath@lemmy.ml
I’m guessing that’s a real link. But maybe a typo?
Also Lemmy.ml seems to be overloaded right now, won’t even let me go to their home page to search it.
Maybe replace the /c/ with an !
Nah. Should be able to just propagate the whole url. Pretty sure it should be they* not the.
Regardless, sh.itjust.works was having issues this morning. I saw a number of people post about it.
What if the bike was designed for the hippo though?
Like one of those treadmill bikes?
A treadmill bicycle, or a treadmill bike, essentially functions by having the user walk or run on a treadmill platform that then powers the wheels of the bicycle. In theory, this could be more suited to a hippo’s physiology than a traditional bicycle, as it would utilize the hippo’s natural gait.
However, even with this adaptation, the hippo would still face significant challenges. First, the sheer size and weight of a hippo (up to 3,000 kilograms or 6,600 pounds) would necessitate an extremely robust and large treadmill bike, likely much larger and heavier than any existing design.
Second, even though the treadmill bike would allow the hippo to use its natural walking or running motion, the speed of the bike would still be limited by the hippo’s walking or running speed. Given that hippos’ top speed is 32 kph (20 mph) and this is only achievable for short sprints, a sustained speed on the treadmill bike would likely be significantly lower, especially over the 40-kilometer bike segment of the triathlon.
Third, the endurance issue remains a key factor. Hippos are not built for long-distance speed or endurance. Their large body size requires significant energy to move and maintaining a high speed for a lengthy period would likely exhaust them quickly.
Taking all these into account, an average human athlete would still have a significant edge in a triathlon competition, even if a hippo could use a specially designed treadmill bike.
Now, if that hippo was some anomaly of a freak, evolved to run long distance, then we are all screwed.