Isn't some ant or suchlike an absolute scorcher across land? Like scaled up he's doing mega bodylengths per second? Maybe I'm making this up!
It's common knowledge that the peregrine falcon is the fastest animal, achieving speeds of up to 242mph.
Humans, however, can achieve speeds of up to 300 mph, according to this wiki page on speed skydiving. So are humans the fastest animal? ;-)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_skydiving
Isn't some ant or suchlike an absolute scorcher across land? Like scaled up he's doing mega bodylengths per second? Maybe I'm making this up!
But a skydiver needs a plane so in that case if using a plane , I'm quicker than a Peregrine falcon and can watch a movie and sip a g&t at the same time
Imagine a more streamlined animal could reach a greater speed than a human. How about a fish dropped out of a plane?
I think it was me, between my car and the toilets in the Bridgwater services on the M5.
I'm not joking either.
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
Sky diving is falling with style. It doesn’t require extra muscles or technique, just large b*lls.
in level flight it’s the white throated needle tail (sort of swift) - +100Mph.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
The fastest mammal (not in a dive) is surprisingly a bat. Up to 100mph and possibly faster than Andy’s swift.
https://blog.nature.org/science/2018...st-mammal/amp/
But that's not really the record anyhow, if you are counting falling. Kittinger and Baumgartner reached speeds in excess of 600mph, Baumgartner they reckon over 800mph.
Because they started so high there was no air to hold them back. Both had suit skin temperatures rise significantly as the thickening air slowed their fall, a bit like re-entry heating for space vehicles.
Now that's fast.
Thank you, HT.
A reasonable and interesting thread.
*reaches for a book*
According to The Guinness Book Of Records, it says here that... 'the fastest reacting thing is a human when loading an artistic website and realising the bluetooth speaker is still connected downstairs.'
Not sure if that is supposed to be funny. I don't get it.
Now that is a chat up line that might work in a bar.
Shouldn't you be coming up with a theory of everything rather than mucking about in the sky? Come on, have you seen the forum? I can't listen to that lot for much longer - we need to get off this planet and there's only you and Elon and a small number of others who can help us to do it.
Sorry, it’s a Monty Python sketch.
https://youtu.be/w8Rn_f75UHs
I actually quit jumping a few years ago but is hasn’t helped me formulate any ToEs, but that’s probably well above my pay grade anyway. As for getting off this planet, unless there’s some hitherto unknown piece of physics waiting in the wings to be discovered I’m willing to bet the farm that we ain’t going anywhere (except maybe Mars although I reckon even that would be a suicide mission). We’d be much better off taking care of what we have, because it’s all we have, than holding out for a warp drive or a wormhole. Although the planet seem to be populated largely by colossal helmets so I don’t hold out a great deal of hope for that one either. I suppose that might explain my desire to throw myself out of aeroplanes.
Is the answer motorpike and sidecarp?
Sorry, I'll get me coat …
Twenty years ago, the fastest thing in the world was a Scotsman bending to catch a falling penny, but that's recently been disallowed as racist.
Worth another look.
A couple on an African Safari witnessed a small antelope being chased down by a cheetah.
While the kill was about to happen before their eyes, the husband casually remarked, “I’ll bet the antelope gets away.”
The wife answered, “If that antelope survives this one, I’ll give you incredible sex every day - for the rest of your life.”
The chase was recorded...
https://www.youtube.com/embed/DYDIwOnXNc8
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
Apparently, on the moon, it would be a draw
When considering "what is the fastest animal," it stands to reason that the effects of gravity should be factored out, as gravity has nothing to do with the inherent ability of the animal. If I were to drop my dog (if I owned one!) from 10,000 feet, would he become the fastest dog in the world?
If a peregrine falcon can fly horizontally at an incredibly fast speed...great! Hoorah! But if it needs the huge assist from gravity to achieve its stardom...so what? Allowing gravity into the equation is worse than allowing steroids, HGH, EPO, etc.
Interesting read. I suppose you have to define your own rules and then be happy with the answer. My thoughts were perhaps you should ignore any speed gained which you could not survive naturally. So the falcon beats the skydive. The falcon is accused of making use of gravity but it could be argued a Cheetah makes use of it to not float into the air while running?
Without gravity though, the falcon would also float.
Don't forget that every animal on Earth is also travelling at around 18 miles a second.