World's Fastest Animals.What's the fastest animal on Earth? Try a falcon--at 208 kilometers per hour (130 mph)--which can leave a cheetah cheetah (chē`tə), carnivore of the cat family, Acinonyx jubatus, native to Africa S of the Sahara and SW Asia as far east as India. or gazelle gazelle, name for the many species of delicate, graceful antelopes of the genus Gazella, inhabiting arid, open country. Most gazelles are found only in Africa, but several species range over N Africa and SW Asia; the Persian, or goitered, gazelle ( in the dust! The answer certainly surprised researchers at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham CountyGR6 and is the fourth-largest city in the state by population. , who tracked the diving speeds of a tame gyrfalcon gyrfalcon Arctic bird of prey (Falco rusticolus), the largest falcon. It may reach 2 ft (60 cm) in length. It breeds only in the North Pole region (and in some Central Asian highlands) but is sometimes seen at lower latitudes when food is scarce. (JER-falkon), an Arctic falcon named Kumpan. They used a telescope attached to a computer specially designed by Duke zoologist Vance Tucker to record Kumpan's location and speed each second during his high-speed dives. Check out the graph for a look at some of Earth's other swift critters. [GRAPH OMITTED] |
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