CHAPTER
1
Catch Me
If You Can!
#8
T
he black mamba of Africa is the fastest
snake around. It can reach top speeds of 10
to 12 miles per hour in short bursts over level
ground. When hunting small animals, a black
mamba delivers one bite to the neck and waits
for its venom to take effect. Only two drops of
this highly toxic venom can kill a human.
S
MA
TE
RI
AL
to a predator, especially at
peed is enormously important
doesn’t move fast enough, its
mealtime. Why? If a predator
on your running shoes and get
dinner just might escape. Put
edy predators.
ready to meet ten extremely spe
A
he world’s fastest-ru
nning insects are
Australian tiger be
etles. In hot pursui
t
of spiders and inse
cts such as flies, an
ts
, and
grasshoppers, one
species runs at a ra
te
of
5 miles per hour. Th
at may not sound
ve
ry
fast, but in human
terms it would equa
l
more than 338 mile
s per hour! There’s
only one problem:
The beetles have to
keep
stopping to make su
re they’re going th
e
right
way because their
eyes can’t refocus fa
st
enough to keep up
with their running
speed!
GH
I should
have worn my
#6
Gentoo
Penguin
ntoo
tle torpedo, a ge
lit
dy
ee
sp
a
e
r in
ooking a lot lik
20 miles per hou
er
ov
st
ju
at
g
s alon
seas around
penguin speed
d cod in the icy
an
id
u
sq
as
ch
in the
su
pursuit of prey
swimming bird
t
es
st
fa
e
th
it
makes
ose to the
Antarctica. That
ost of its prey cl
m
es
h
tc
ca
in
gu
en it
as 330 feet. Wh
world. This pen
p
ee
d
as
e
iv
d
own to
hind it.
surface but is kn
ers stick out be
h
at
fe
il
ta
g
n
lo
its
walks on land,
L
!
!
!
WILD
ed
Six-lincerunner
Ra
ack
eb
un from th
ix stripes r
er’s
u
r
d race nn
e
in
-l
x
si
e
of th
. That
se of its tail
a
b
e
th
to
per
head
at 18 miles
t
a
th
t
c
fa
and the
storld’s faste
w
e
th
’s
it
is
hour,
what give th
re
a
rd
a
z
li
running
s name.
an reptile it
ic
r
e
m
A
th
ighly
Nor
runner is h
e
c
a
r
d
e
in
The six-l
ay when
uring the d
d
n
e
v
e
,
e
v
acti
ing.
s are snooz
other lizard
S
WILD
Gentoo penguins often hunt in groups,
called rafts, of several hundred.
#77
#
sneakers.
RI
PY
T
Tiger Beetles
CO
#10 Australian
ctually, the wind scorpion is not
a scorpion but another kind of
arachnid. Compared to its spider
relatives, it does seem to move as fast
as the wind, though, reaching speeds
of up to 10 miles per hour. Its legs end
in sticky suction cup–like suckers that
make it easy for the wind scorpion
to climb and hold onto prey. Wind
scorpions can be found in the dry
areas of most parts of the world.
D
Wind Scorpion
TE
#9
Black Mamba
WILD
#3
#5
T
Shortfin Mako
Shark
he shortfin mak
o sh
ark has been
known to swim
faster than 22 m
iles
per hour in shor
t bursts, makin
g it the
world’s fastest
shark. It’s a pre
tty amazing
jumper, too, le
aping as high as
20 feet out
of the water. Fo
und in warmer
se
as around
the world, it av
erages 5 to 8 fe
et long but
can grow as lon
g as 12 feet and
weigh as
much as 1,000
pounds. This sh
ark prefers
fish such as her
ring, mackerel,
tu
na, and
swordfish, but
sometimes eats
porpoises
and sea turtles.
Its long, sharp
te
eth come
in handy when
hanging onto sl
ippery prey.
#4
E
T
Dragonfly
here have been dragonflie
s on Earth for as long as
250 million years. One
fossil of a dragonfly datin
g back to that time has a
two-foot wingspan.
Today’s dragonflies are no
t that big, but they are sti
ll
effi
cient predators. In a
high-speed chase, it’s no
t unusual for a dragonfly
to
reach 30 miles per hour
in pursuit of an insect it
wants to devour. It can als
o
hover in midair like a
miniature helicopter. A dr
agonfly’s favorite hunting
grounds are near rivers,
streams, and ponds. It lik
es to eat on the fly, so to
sp
eak
, enjoying one tasty
treat while hunting for its
second course.
That
sun sure
feels good.
California Sea Lion
asily reaching speeds of up to 25 miles per hour
,
California sea lions are the fastest pinnipeds (a
family of meat-eating sea mammals that inclu
des seals
and walruses) in the ocean. They can dive up to
240 feet
deep in pursuit of squid, octopi, rockfish, and
the many
other sea creatures they like to eat.
On land, California sea lions use their large back
flippers to help them move about. Noisy and socia
l,
they often gather in large groups at favorite resti
ng
places, like Pier 39 in San Francisco, California,
where
they’ve been entertaining tourists since 1990. Man
y of
the trained “seals” you can see in zoos or aquarium
s are
actually the smart and playful California sea lions
.
At up to 1,000 pounds, male California
sea lions are about 4.5 times as big as
females.
WILD
Dragonflies have compound eyes, with each one
made up of as many as 30,000 lenses.
WILD
#2
h
a
t
e
e
h
C
orld’s fastest
the prize for w
s
ke
ta
h
ta
ee
ch
speed, the
hour—but
hen it comes to
to 70 miles per
p
u
n
ru
n
ca
t
his ca
elds, when it
land animal. T
three football fi
or
o
tw
of
h
gt
eetah
the len
lls its prey, a ch
ki
d
only for about
an
es
h
tc
ca
eat. Once it
tch its breath.
begins to overh
f an hour to ca
al
h
t
ndou
ab
r
fo
s long, greyhou
it
has to rest
h
it
w
,
d
ee
sp
built for
g legs. The
The cheetah is
l head, and lon
al
sm
,
es
n
bo
t
ound for
tweigh
p it grip the gr
el
like frame, ligh
h
s
aw
cl
p
ar
it to
s and its sh
rge lungs allow
la
d
an
ils
pads on its paw
tr
os
n
e
-off: It
tion, while wid
er a quick take
ow
p
maximum trac
to
s
d
ee
n
it
tah’s
p breaths
conds! The chee
se
r
u
take the big, dee
fo
ly
on
can
iles per hour in
in balance so it
ta
can reach 60 m
n
ai
m
to
er
d
ring,
ts as a rud
works like a sp
e
n
bo
long, flat tail ac
ck
ba
le
s, and its flexib
make sharp turn
25 feet!
to an incredible
e
d
ri
st
s
it
g
n
ti
boos
W
A
!
!
!
!
WILD
The fovea, an area inside a
cheetah’s retina, allows the cat to
focus with great precision on distant
prey. The long, black tear marks
under each eye help to lessen the
sun’s glare.
WILD
WILD
Sp ec ia l Re po rt :
N
WILD
Cheetahs in Danger
ot so long ago cheetahs
were the human populat
ion increases, the
being killed in great numbers
for construction of house
s and roads limits
their beautiful pelts. Althoug
h hunting cheetahs’ habita
ts. In 1900, there were
cheetahs is now against the
law, these about 100,000
che
etahs in the wild.
cats are threatened in anoth
er way. As Today, there are
only about 15,000. •
10
#1 Peregrine
Ahhhh.
Too much
late-night TV.
Falcon
bout the size an
d weight of a cr
ow, the peregrin
falcon is nature
e
’s speeding bulle
t. The fastest an
on Earth, it regu
im
larly flies at spee
al
ds up to about
per hour, but w
55 miles
hen pursuing pr
ey, it can reach
70 miles per ho
almost
ur. When perfor
m
ing its spectacu
nosedives, it ca
lar
n move even fa
ster.
The peregrine fa
lcon’s preferred
food is other
birds, and when
it spots a tasty m
orsel, it drops in
headfirst dive ca
to a
lled a power stoo
p.
As the falcon pi
up speed, you ca
cks
n actually hear
the roar up to a
mile away! Mov
qu
ar
ter
ing as fast as 20
0 miles per hou
falcon clenches
r,
the
one foot into a
fist-like ball and
out the prey wit
ta
kes
h a powerful ki
ck. As the bird dr
falcon swoops u
op
s, the
nderneath to ca
tch it in
its talons (claws)
.
S p e c ia l LResesopnosr t :
Flying
or two
gineers a thing
en
e
ac
sp
ro
ae
have taught
stall out when
eregrine falcons
t engines would
je
,
st
pa
e
th
In
e thing
flying.
red why the sam
de
on
about high-speed
w
ho
w
ts
is
nt
d a small
rtain speed. Scie
that the birds ha
ed
er
they reached a ce
ov
sc
di
s
on
lc
e air
peregrine fa
ture’s cones guid
na
as
st
Ju
didn’t happen to
l.
ri
st
no
engines,
htly out of each
guide air into jet
w
cone sticking slig
no
s
ne
co
e
ad
lungs, manm
gh speeds. •
into the falcons’
ing at extremely hi
at
er
op
ep
ke
to
allowing them
P
• In winter, peregrines that breed in northern
Canada migrate to South America, a distance
of more than 15,000 miles.
• Peregrine falcons usually nest on mountaintops
and cliffs, but in cities, they nest on the ledges
of tall buildings.
WILD
11