Hydrostatic shock is commonly considered as a factor in the selection of hunting ammunition.
The ratio of energy transfer to animal weight is an important consideration for larger animals.
Recall that higher energy transfer result in larger pressure waves.
Larger waves can travel further through tissue.
Therefore, larger animals require larger pressure waves in order to have the same affects than those required for smaller animals.
Modern hunting ammunition is designed for maximum energy transfer for quick and humane kills.
Interestingly it has been found that hydrostatic shock can have affects on animals as large as cape buffalo.
In a carefully controlled study by veterinarians in a buffalo culling operation the result was this:
"Predictably, some of the buffalo dropped where they were shot and some didn't, even though all received near-identical hits in the vital heart-lung area. When the brains of all the buffalo were removed, the researchers discovered that those that had been knocked down instantly had suffered massive rupturing of blood vessels in the brain. The brains of animals that hadn't fallen instantly showed no such damage."
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