52

WONDERFUL ANIMALS ( ii ) EXTRAORDINARY RECORD HOLDERS

JUMP LEAP OR RUN

High jumping humble flea is a World record breaker . It can jump up to

130 times its own length –equivalent of a person jumping over Eiffel
tower .; And it can do so 500 times per hour nonstop for 3 or 4 days .

American bull frog can leap 9 times its own length; and that of South
Africa 40 times its own length—the equivalent of an Olympic long
jump champion leaping between trees and branches,

Agile bush babies of West Africa move rapidly throughout the forest
canopy at night ,in search of insects to feed, .,covering 33ft in 5
seconds or less ;.and such is the accuracy and speed of movement that
grasshoppers and moths may be caught on the wing .

SPEED SPECIALISTS

Fast moving predators and prey try constantly to outdo each other in a
race that means life or death .

Road runner ‘Cuckoo’ of America is the Cheetah of the bird world-

It has a clownish gate but can run at the speed of 42 Km/h –
 53
moving 12 steps a second and using its tail as a rudder that can turn the
bird 900 degrees without slowing .

Fast moving Sun spiders are fastest animals on 8 legs moving in short
busts exceeding 16 km / h.

The Sailfish is oceans fastest fish clocking 110 km/h. in short bursts but
the blue fin Tuna reaches nearly 110 km/h in longer run .

The champion racers include Peregrine’s of eagle family which stoop

or dive at 240 km/h, making them fastest animals on earth capable of
striking down its prey mid air;

White throated Spine tailed swift achieves a flapping soaring speed of

170 km/h during its courtship displays and also soar aerobatically on
thermal currents;

While Magnificent Frigate bird is credited with 154 km / h ;

Cheetah the swiftest land mammal at 97 Km / h but the gazelles

reaching 80 km / h can run longer without overheating .;
 54
Australian dragon fly is the title holder of fastest flying insect with
speed of 98km/h and capable of intercepting other insects on the wing
and challenged only by male horsefly pursuing female at 145 km / h;

Tiger beetles are among the fastest animals on six legs ,sprinting at
50 cm/second making it faster than world’s top human sprinter;

Honeybees can flap their wings speedily at 300 b/s .

 55
FLOAT AT WILL

Many animals are at home in water; to survive they have developed

many different ways of floating and moving .

The Sperm whale is the deepest diving mammal-in the oceans and can
dive to a depth of 3300ft at a rate of 560ft per minute and owes this
ability due to oil filled tubes in spermaceti organ in its head .

When diving to great depths Elephant seals sleep during their journey
up and down-to and from 2246 ft under water where they can stay up to
2 hours and take cat naps on the way.

Deep diving Emperor Penguin has small stones in its stomach that
help it to dive like a scuba diver wearing a weight belt; At the surface it
travels by ‘porpoising’ at 11 km/h; They then ‘toboggan’ across the ice
from the sea to their nesting rockery on Antarctic main land .

For high speed escapes Squids rely on jet propulsion, controlled by a

nervous system with the largest nerve cells in any animal, Their hose
like siphon below the head squirts water at high pressure propelling it
@ 33 km / h .