A stampede is an act of mass impulse among herd animals or a crowd of people in which the herd (or crowd) collectively begins running with no clear direction or purpose. Stampedes are believed to originate from biological responses in the brains and endocrine systems of herd animals. The response is believed to have evolved to help animals escape predators.

A large stampede will frequently destroy anything in its way. In farmed animals, herd managers, sometimes called cowboys, attempt to turn the moving herd into itself, so that it runs in circles rather than self-destructing by running over a cliff or into a river, or from damaging human life or property by overrunning human settlements.

Specific animals associated with stampede behaviour are Blue Wildebeest and wild horses.

Human stampedes

By an analogy, the term is applied to a sudden rush of a crowd of people, usually resulting in many injuries and death from suffocation and trampling. Human stampedes most often occur during religious pilgrimages and professional sporting events. For example, on January 12, 2006, a stampede in Mecca during the last day of Hajj (the Stoning of the devil) killed at least 345 Muslims (see: Incidents during the Hajj). In 1989, a stampede at Hillsborough stadium, Sheffield, England, killed 96 during a football cup semi-final.

While it may seem that shorter people are at greater risk for injury during a stampede, this is not the case. Taller people, while stumbling and tripping over everybody else, are more likely to be knocked down and trampled. The elderly and very young are especially prone to injury or death during a stampede because of their frailty, disabilities, size, or weakness.

Hazards | Stampedes

Stampede | Bousculade | Stampedo | Stormloop