Game On

So you think you're fast ...

The fastest fish is thought to be the sailfish, which can swim up to 110 km/hour.  

So you think you're strong...

The African elephant’s trunk is packed with hundreds of muscles. The trunk alone can lift 595 lbs.  

Who needs a trampoline...

At 6 millimetres long, the spittlebug (or froghopper) can catapult itself 70 centimetres into the air. You do the math!  

Somebody spot me...

Ants can lift 20 times their own body weight. That's the equivalent of a 200 lb weightlifter bench-pressing 4,000 lbs.  

Ever try running 268 marathons?

The longest flight made by a homing pigeon was recorded between April 8 and June 1, 1845. The pigeon flew from West Africa to London, England – a distance of 8,690 km. (It is suspected that the pigeon actually flew 11,265 km, because it probably circumvented the Sahara Desert.) The bird fell dead 1.5 km from its loft.  

Now that's what I call endurance...

The pronghorn antelope of Wyoming may rank as the greatest athlete alive. Its maximum speed of 97 km/hr is second only to the cheetah's top pace of 113 km/hr. But while the cheetah can sprint for just a few seconds, the pronghorn can maintain its pace for an hour.  

So much for clearing Customs…

A migrating hummingbird will fly for 24 hours straight, and beating its wings thousands of times a minute. It would take a human athlete working for a week at peak capacity without a moment's break to match the hummingbird's aerobic efficiency. And according to muscle activity measurements, hummingbirds’ wings are at rest more than at work during flight. Phew!  

Sometimes less is more...

The world's smallest mammal, the Etruscan shrew, is almost as light as a dime, but can run more than half as fast as the fastest human. Were it scaled up to human dimensions, it would dash through a mile in about 40 seconds.