Fastest Animals in the World: Land, Air and Water

Measured or estimated? Why speed records are tricky

Many animal speeds printed in books and online are guesses. Reliable figures come from methods such as timing gates, GPS collars, radar and high-speed cameras. Weaker figures come from driving a car alongside an animal and reading the speedometer, from timing fishing line as a hooked fish pulls it off a reel, or from simply judging speed by eye.

Conditions matter too. A falcon diving with gravity, a bat flying with a tailwind and a cheetah running on a flat track after a lure are all measured in different ways, so comparisons are never perfectly fair. In this list, we say for each animal whether its top speed has been measured or only estimated.

1. Peregrine falcon: over 300 km/h (186 mph) in a dive

The peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) is the fastest animal known. It climbs high, folds its wings and drops in a steep dive called a stoop, striking birds such as pigeons and ducks in midair. Stoop speeds above 300 km/h (186 mph) are widely reported. The figure behind many record books, about 389 km/h (242 mph), comes from a trained falcon that dived alongside the skydiving falconer Ken Franklin, not from a wild hunting bird.

Radar studies of wild peregrines have recorded lower stoop speeds, up to about 180 km/h (112 mph), so the true top speed of wild birds is uncertain. In level flight, peregrines are much slower. Once badly harmed by the pesticide DDT, peregrines have recovered and now nest on cliffs, cathedrals and skyscrapers across Europe and North America.

2. Golden eagle: estimated 240–320 km/h (150–200 mph) in a dive

The golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) is far bigger and heavier than a peregrine and is also a formidable diver. Its stooping speed is often estimated at 240–320 km/h (150–200 mph). These figures are estimates rather than careful measurements, but they place the eagle among the fastest birds on Earth. Other falcons, such as the gyrfalcon, also reach very high speeds in dives.

3. Brazilian free-tailed bat: up to 160 km/h (99 mph) in level flight

In a 2016 study, researchers fitted seven Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis), also known as Mexican free-tailed bats, with radio tags at a cave in southwestern Texas and followed them with a light aircraft. The fastest reached a ground speed of about 160 km/h (99 mph), the highest ever recorded for a bat and faster than any well-measured bird in level flight. Because these were ground speeds, some scientists caution that wind may have boosted the figures.

4. Common swift: 112 km/h (70 mph) measured in level flight

The common swift (Apus apus), a summer visitor to Europe, holds the best-documented record for a bird in flapping, level flight. In 2010, researchers at Lund University in Sweden filmed swifts during their noisy “screaming party” chases using paired high-speed cameras. The fastest bird reached 31.1 m per second, about 112 km/h (70 mph). Older claims of 170 km/h (105 mph) for the white-throated needletail, a large Asian swift, have never been confirmed.

5. Cheetah: 93–104 km/h (58–65 mph), fastest on land

The cheetah is the fastest land animal. A tame cheetah timed over 201 m with a running start averaged about 104 km/h (65 mph) in a study published in 1997. In the wild, GPS collars on five cheetahs in Botswana recorded a top speed of 93 km/h (58 mph) during 367 runs, although most hunts were much slower. Cheetahs also accelerate and brake harder than almost any other land mammal. For the full story, read How fast is a cheetah?

6. Pronghorn: about 88 km/h (55 mph), the long-distance champion

The pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) of western North America is the fastest land animal in the Americas. It can sprint at about 88 km/h (55 mph) and keep up about 56 km/h (35 mph) for several kilometers, thanks to an unusually large windpipe, heart and lungs. These speeds were estimated by driving alongside running pronghorns. A cheetah would win a short sprint, but a pronghorn would easily win a long race.

7. Springbok, gazelles and wildebeest: about 80–90 km/h (50–55 mph)

Several African antelopes are not far behind the pronghorn. The springbok is often credited with about 88 km/h (55 mph), and Thomson’s gazelle and the blue wildebeest with roughly 80 km/h (50 mph). Most of these figures were also estimated from vehicles, so they are less precise than the cheetah’s. Their real advantage is agility: sudden zigzags let them escape faster predators.

8. Ostrich: about 70 km/h (43 mph), the fastest bird on land

The common ostrich (Struthio camelus) cannot fly, but it is the fastest animal on two legs. It can sprint at about 70 km/h (43 mph) in short bursts and keep up roughly 50 km/h (31 mph) over longer distances, covering 3–5 m (10–16 ft) with each stride. For comparison, Usain Bolt’s peak speed during his 100 m world record was about 44 km/h (27 mph).

9. Sailfish and black marlin: fastest fish, but slower than the legend

The sailfish is often listed at about 110 km/h (68 mph) and the black marlin at about 129 km/h (80 mph). Both figures come from timing hooked fish as they pulled fishing line off a reel, a method that is easily distorted, and the sailfish figure also included leaps out of the water.

Modern studies tell a different story. A 2016 study in Biology Open measured how fast sailfish muscle can contract and estimated a top swimming speed of about 8.3 m per second, or 30 km/h (19 mph). The authors concluded that sailfish cannot exceed 10–15 m per second (36–54 km/h; 22–34 mph), the speed at which bubbles forming around the fins (cavitation) would damage them. High-speed video and motion sensors on sailfish attacking sardines recorded bursts of about 25 km/h (16 mph). Sailfish, marlins, tunas, wahoo and the shortfin mako shark all remain candidates for the fastest fish, but no precise record exists.

10. Fastest insects: flies, dragonflies and a record-breaking beetle

Insect speeds are very hard to measure, and the most famous record is a myth. In the 1920s, entomologist Charles Townsend claimed that deer botflies flew at about 1,300 km/h (818 mph). In 1938, the Nobel Prize-winning chemist Irving Langmuir showed this was impossible: air pressure at that speed would crush the fly, and it could never eat enough to fuel the flight. He estimated a realistic speed of about 40 km/h (25 mph).

Large dragonflies, horseflies and hawk moths are generally considered the fastest fliers among insects, but most published top speeds are estimates. On the ground, Australian tiger beetles are among the fastest-running insects: one species has been timed at 1.86 m per second, or 171 of its body lengths per second.

Fastest animals compared

Many familiar animals are much slower than the record holders. The gray wolf relies on stamina rather than speed, often chasing prey for long distances, and the red fox reaches about 50 km/h (31 mph) in short dashes.

Fastest for their size

Measured in body lengths per second, small animals beat every record holder above. A tiny mite from Southern California, Paratarsotomus macropalpis, less than 1 mm long, was reported in 2014 to run at up to 322 body lengths per second, even on concrete heated to about 60 °C (140 °F). Male Anna’s hummingbirds reach about 98 km/h (61 mph) in courtship dives, one of the highest speeds relative to body size of any vertebrate. By the same measure, a sprinting cheetah manages only about 16 body lengths per second. To see how the cheetah compares with another spotted cat, read cheetah vs leopard.