African Elephant vs Grizzly Bear: taller by how much?
An African elephant measures 3.2 m (10.5 ft) from the ground up, and a grizzly bear measures 2.5 m (8.2 ft) from the ground up. That puts an African elephant at 1.28 times the height of a grizzly bear: 70 cm (27.6 in) of difference, 28%. Put the other way round, a grizzly bear covers 78% of an African elephant on the axis both are judged on. An African elephant and a grizzly bear are both written in single metres, and the 28% between them is the whole of the difference.
| Object | Real size | Axis measured | What the figure covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| African Elephant | 3.2 m 10.5 ft |
Height | Bull |
| Grizzly Bear | 2.5 m 8.2 ft |
Height | Average Male |
Both figures, African Elephant and Grizzly Bear, come from the Size It Up measurement set, one real-world size and one measured axis per object, last checked in September 2026; outline provenance is listed on the sources page.
Why this one is hard to judge by eye
An African elephant is drawn about 4.80 times as wide as a grizzly bear as well as 1.28 times its height, so the area it takes in the frame grows faster than the figure anyone quotes. Both shapes fit in a single glance here, which is exactly why the 28% between an African elephant and a grizzly bear slips past: at this size the eye compares whole outlines, and the figures above compare one axis. On the drawing above an African elephant is about 1.62 times as wide as it is tall and a grizzly bear about 2.32 times as tall as it is wide, so the two outlines fill the frame in ways that have nothing to do with the one axis being compared.
What each figure covers
African Elephant. Shoulder height, not height to the top of the head, is the standard for elephants. Published figures drift between roughly 3 m and 3.5 m depending on whether the animal is an average bull or a record one.
Grizzly Bear. This is the upright height, the bear standing on its hind legs. On all fours the same animal is roughly half that, which is why the two figures are so often confused.
An African elephant and a grizzly bear are both quoted as a height, which is what makes the ratio above a like-for-like figure.
What else is about that size?
Measured the same way, African Elephant at 3.2 m sits within a tenth of African Bush Elephant at 3.2 m, Woolly Mammoth at 3 m and Groudon at 3.5 m. Grizzly Bear at 2.5 m has London Phone Box at 2.51 m, Thanos at 2.52 m and Ostrich at 2.4 m for company, within a tenth. Swapping any of those in for an African elephant would move its ratio to a grizzly bear by less than 10%.