Elephant vs rhino: who wins? DanCo says the elephant

An elephant versus a rhino: who wins? My answer is the elephant. The rhino is one of the few animals on Earth that could pose a serious threat to an elephant, but I think people underestimate how massive a fully grown African elephant is.

A fully grown African elephant can weigh more than twice as much as a rhino

We're talking about an animal that can weigh anywhere from 10,000 to over 13,000 pounds. A large male rhino usually weighs somewhere around 4,000 to 5,000 pounds. So the elephant can weigh more than twice as much as its opponent, which is a big advantage from the start.

The rhino's horn could cause serious, potentially fatal injury

The rhino definitely has some serious weapons of its own. It's got that enormous horn, which can grow up to several feet. It has incredibly thick skin, and it has enough power to charge straight through trees.

If the rhino manages to drive its horn into an elephant's leg or belly, it could cause serious, potentially fatal injury.

Elephant tusks and trunks against rhino speed

The elephant has weapons too. Elephants have enormous tusks, incredibly powerful trunks, and enough strength to push over trees and toss around heavy objects.

I guess the one thing you have to consider is that rhinos are surprisingly fast for their size. A charging rhino could definitely catch an elephant off guard. But if we're talking about two fully grown males standing their ground and staring each other down, the elephant has a big advantage in size, reach and power.

Elephants have killed rhinos in South Africa

On top of that, we've seen elephants kill rhinos in the wild. In South Africa, there were cases of aggressive male elephants attacking and killing rhinos. "So, it's not even really a hypothetical," because we've seen it happen, and we know an elephant can do that.

Why I give the fight to the elephant

I think the rhino is big enough and dangerous enough, especially with that horn, that "you can't completely rule out an upset." But more often than not, the elephant is going to be able to overpower it, knock it off balance, or drive its tusks into the rhino before it can even do anything. The elephant wins.