Animal Competitions: Real or Fake?

Can you identify the actual critter sports? Here's a hint: Four of them are real. You'll find the answers on the last slide!

You'd think it'd be nearly impossible to get elephants up on water skis, but it's easier than it looks. Their giant feet create a wide base that distributes their weight, giving them tremendous balance. Also, their trunks make it easy for them to breathe underwater when they wipe out.

How do their tiny feet reach the pedals? Well, they don't. The little guys run in a wheel that's connected to a car body, which is propelled along the 16-foot course.

Talk about mad hoppin' down the bunny trail! These specially bred rabbits can leap higher than three feet in the air as they navigate the obstacle-filled course. The sport began in Sweden and has now spread as far away as the U.S. and Australia.

Paw-a-bunga! The largest competition — in which man's best friend hops on a board and hangs 20 — featured 65 dogs and more than 2,500 spectators.

Just cock-a-doodle-do it! Roosters and hens are coaxed along a balance beam by their coach, who can get them to do tricks by tossing feed in their direction. But if the coach touches the bird, it's a fowl. I mean, a foul.

Anyone who's ever seen a cat go after a ball of string knows that kitties are very good at picking things up. One of the more controversial animal sports, feline weightlifting was rocked by a steroids scandal at the world championship in 2005, which explains why you never see it on TV anymore.

First held in China, the Pig Olympics grew to include events such as running, swimming, and a soccer-like game in which the piggies use their snouts to push a greased-up ball toward a goal. You can read all about it in Porks Illustrated.

Elephant Water Skiing: Fake Hamster Racing: Real Bunny Jumping: Real Dog Surfing: Real Chicken Gynamstics: Fake Cat Weightlifting: Fake Pig Olympics: Real Photos: JOHN LUND/BLEND IMAGES RM/GETTY IMAGES (ELEPHANT), News & Pictures North (hamsters), JENS MEYER/AP (RABBIT), LUCY NICHOLSON/REUTERS (DOG), ERICK W. RASCO FOR SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (CHICKEN); TABITHA PATRICK/GETTY IMAGES (MAT), AKIMASA HARADA/FLICKR RF/GETTY IMAGES (CAT); HAAG & KROPP GBR/GETTY IMAGES (BARBELL), IVAN SEKRETAREV/AP (PIGS)