Whats the fastest??
Discussion
Something that i have been thinking about for the past few days - weirdo 
but what living thing, proportional to its size is the fastest living thing in the world? you see little ants running across the ground and they seem to being going a fair rate of knots for the size of them, same applies with flies in general. Imagine if an elephant could run as fast for its size as an ant can...how fast would that be?
but what living thing, proportional to its size is the fastest living thing in the world? you see little ants running across the ground and they seem to being going a fair rate of knots for the size of them, same applies with flies in general. Imagine if an elephant could run as fast for its size as an ant can...how fast would that be?
A quick Google found this...
The cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus, is the fastest land animal. It can accelerate to about 80km/h in around three seconds - faster than most sports cars! There are 100m races by cheetahs every year in Cape Town to raise awareness of the world's oldest species of cat, which, sadly, is now endangered.
The cheetah is an atypical member of the cat family (Felidae) that is unique in its speed and stealth, while lacking the ability to climb trees. As such, it is placed in its own genus, Acinonyx. The current record for a 100m sprint is 6.19 seconds, over three seconds faster than Usain Bolt's achievement! This works out to an average of just under 60km/h, which is incredible from a standing start.
Cheetahs have apparently been recorded as having reached instantaneous speeds of over 100km/h, but they cannot maintain those speeds for long.
There are many other speedy land creatures. The ostrich is the fastest terrestrial animal on two legs, topping speeds of 60km/h. The fastest snake is the black mamba, which has been clocked at just under 20km/h - this is truly remarkable considering it has no legs!
But the real land-speed record holder is the tiger beetle. It may sound strange, but we have to keep things relative here. From a size point of view, it is far and away the fastest animal in the world.
To put it in perspective, an Australian species of Cicindela hudsoni is 20mm long and can run at 2.5 metres per second (9km/h). This works out to about 125 body lengths per second, whereas human sprinters manage only about five or six body lengths per second during a 100m dash. Using this as our relative comparison, in order for a human to outrun a beetle at our size, the human sprinter would have to cover 200 metres in under a second!
In fact, when tiger beetles hunt their prey, they run so fast that they cannot see! There is not enough illumination reaching the beetles eyes, making it incapable of creating an image of its prey. This is why, during the hunt, tiger beetles sprint after their prey, stop to see where it went, then sprint in that direction, stop, look and then sprint again!
Edited because the formatting was to cock, but it wasn't me, it's PH, it's not working right.
The cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus, is the fastest land animal. It can accelerate to about 80km/h in around three seconds - faster than most sports cars! There are 100m races by cheetahs every year in Cape Town to raise awareness of the world's oldest species of cat, which, sadly, is now endangered.
The cheetah is an atypical member of the cat family (Felidae) that is unique in its speed and stealth, while lacking the ability to climb trees. As such, it is placed in its own genus, Acinonyx. The current record for a 100m sprint is 6.19 seconds, over three seconds faster than Usain Bolt's achievement! This works out to an average of just under 60km/h, which is incredible from a standing start.
Cheetahs have apparently been recorded as having reached instantaneous speeds of over 100km/h, but they cannot maintain those speeds for long.
There are many other speedy land creatures. The ostrich is the fastest terrestrial animal on two legs, topping speeds of 60km/h. The fastest snake is the black mamba, which has been clocked at just under 20km/h - this is truly remarkable considering it has no legs!
But the real land-speed record holder is the tiger beetle. It may sound strange, but we have to keep things relative here. From a size point of view, it is far and away the fastest animal in the world.
To put it in perspective, an Australian species of Cicindela hudsoni is 20mm long and can run at 2.5 metres per second (9km/h). This works out to about 125 body lengths per second, whereas human sprinters manage only about five or six body lengths per second during a 100m dash. Using this as our relative comparison, in order for a human to outrun a beetle at our size, the human sprinter would have to cover 200 metres in under a second!
In fact, when tiger beetles hunt their prey, they run so fast that they cannot see! There is not enough illumination reaching the beetles eyes, making it incapable of creating an image of its prey. This is why, during the hunt, tiger beetles sprint after their prey, stop to see where it went, then sprint in that direction, stop, look and then sprint again!
Edited because the formatting was to cock, but it wasn't me, it's PH, it's not working right.
Edited by Balmoral Green on Thursday 4th September 18:15
Yertis said:
Balmoral Green said:
A quick Google found this...
In fact, when tiger beetles hunt their prey, they run so fast that they cannot see! There is not enough illumination reaching the beetles eyes,
I don't understand this. Do they run at beyond light-speed?In fact, when tiger beetles hunt their prey, they run so fast that they cannot see! There is not enough illumination reaching the beetles eyes,
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