Top Five Mammals for Speed

Published by keemo7792
April 20, 2010, Category: Zoology

A quick top five list of the fastest animals on the planet.

Top Five Mammals for Speed

5) Springbok

The Springbok is so named because of its ability to “spring” into action, and its odd running style. It’s a medium sized gazelle and is usually found in southwest Africa. Its Max Speed: 50 miles per hour.

4) Lion

The lions of Sub Saharan Africa are second in size only to Bengal Tigers as far as big cats go. The lion has a surprising top speed of almost 55 miles per hour, meaning that if it comes down to a one on one between you and a lion, he wins.

3) Blue Wildebeast

The Blue Wildebeast is also native to Africa (see a trend here?), it moves in massive herds due to the large probability of being preyed upon by lions and other predators. Not only does the wildebeast move in large groups, but when it comes down to it the beast can charge at you with a speed of almost 57 miles per hour!

2) Pronghorn Antelope

Native only to North America (trend shattered), the pronghorn antelope is naturally built to avoid predators. God engineered this animal with some of the sharpest senses found in nature, we’re not talking about just sight smell and touch, we’re talking about 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th senses if they exist. The antelope will bound away at a top speed of 60 miles per hour at the slightest suspicious noise.

And finally, in first place

1) Cheetah

The cheetah has been recorded to run at a mind boggling top speed of 78 miles per hour! The only problem is that this speed can only be maintained for roughly 480 meters, and the cheetah simply walks most of the day to conserve energy. But that still doesn’t mean that it can’t run at about 60 miles per hour for a much longer distance! What’s more interesting is the acceleration, cheetahs have been found to accelerate from 0-60 mph in under 3 seconds. Let me put that into perspective…thats faster acceleration than a Lamborghini Gallardo, and might just tie with the world’s fastest street legal vehicle the Bugatti Veyron, with an acceleration of 0-60 in 2.46 seconds. Oh and you guessed it, cheetahs are native to Africa.