Animal Superlatives: 15 Records That Redefine the Limits of Life

Animal records are often different from what we think. The cheetah is not the fastest animal in the world. The blue whale is not only huge, it is louder than a jet. And the deadliest hunter of humans is neither a shark nor a lion, but an insect weighing less than one gram. Here are 15 animal superlatives where most people guess wrong.

1. Fastest animal: peregrine falcon (390 km/h)

The peregrine falcon reaches up to 390 km/h in a stoop dive, making it the fastest animal on Earth. The cheetah at 110 km/h is far below, and can only hold that pace for about 30 seconds before it overheats. The peregrine only holds its top speed for seconds, but those seconds beat any Formula 1 car in acceleration.

2. Fastest in level flight: common swift (170 km/h)

Without a dive, in regular level flight, the common swift is the champion at around 170 km/h. It also flies up to ten months in a row without landing. It eats, drinks, mates, and sleeps in the air. It only comes down to the ground to nest.

3. Longest migration: arctic tern (90,000 km per year)

The arctic tern flies from the Arctic to Antarctica and back every year. That is up to 90,000 kilometers per season. Over its 30-year life, it covers about 2.4 million kilometers. That is the equivalent of three trips to the moon and back.

4. Largest animal of all time: blue whale (30 meters, 180 tons)

The blue whale is not only the largest animal alive today, but the largest animal that has ever lived on Earth. It is bigger than any dinosaur. Its heart weighs around 180 kilograms, its tongue as much as an elephant. A newborn gains 90 kilograms per day.

5. Loudest animal: pistol shrimp (218 decibels)

The pistol shrimp is three to five centimeters long and produces a snap of 218 decibels with its claw. That is louder than a jet at takeoff (150 dB) and rivals a sperm whale click (230 dB holds the water record, but per body size, the pistol shrimp is unbeatable). The sound tears open a short vacuum bubble, whose collapse stuns the prey.

6. Deadliest animal to humans: mosquito (725,000 deaths per year)

Not sharks, not snakes, not crocodiles. Mosquitoes kill around 725,000 people every year, mainly through malaria, dengue, and yellow fever. For comparison: sharks kill about ten people per year worldwide. So an animal weighing less than one gram is by far the most dangerous hunter of humans.

7. Strongest bite: saltwater crocodile (16,400 newtons)

The saltwater crocodile has the strongest measured bite force of any living animal: about 16,400 newtons. For comparison: a human manages around 700 newtons. The extinct megalodon is said to have reached over 180,000 newtons, but among the living, the crocodile is unmatched.

8. Oldest vertebrate: Greenland shark (400+ years)

Greenland sharks live at least 272 years, probably up to 500. They grow only one centimeter per year and only reach sexual maturity at 150. A Greenland shark alive today could have been born before Bach composed his St Matthew Passion.

9. Immortal jellyfish: Turritopsis dohrnii

This jellyfish, only a few millimeters in size, can revert to its polyp stage under stress and then grow back into an adult jellyfish. In theory, it is biologically immortal. In practice, it usually gets eaten before it can prove it.

10. Largest organism: honey fungus (9 km2, 8,000 years)

The largest organism on Earth is not an animal, but a fungus. A honey fungus network in the Malheur National Forest in Oregon stretches underground across around 9 square kilometers. It is about 8,000 years old and genetically a single living thing.

11. Three hearts and blue blood: octopus

Octopuses have three hearts: two gill hearts pump blood through the gills, one main heart through the rest of the body. Their blood is blue because it uses hemocyanin with copper instead of hemoglobin with iron. The main heart stops when they swim, which is the reason octopuses prefer to crawl.

12. Deepest-living animal: Mariana snailfish (8,178 meters)

At 8,178 meters deep in the Mariana Trench, a snailfish species was discovered, known as the Mariana snailfish. The pressure at this depth equals the weight of around 1,600 elephants per square meter. The fish has a gelatinous skin so its cells do not get crushed.

13. Most common vertebrate: bristlemouth fish (quadrillions)

Not chickens, not rats, not humans. The most common vertebrate on Earth is the bristlemouth fish, a small deep-sea species. Biologists estimate its population at hundreds of trillions to quadrillions of individuals. It is almost never seen because it lives 500 to 1,500 meters deep.

14. Highest jump per body length: froghopper (150x body length)

A flea jumps around 100 times its own body length. Froghoppers and some spittlebugs manage 150 times. Scaled to a human, that would be a jump of over 270 meters. That is almost the height of the Eiffel Tower.

15. Largest eyes: giant squid (up to 30 cm across)

The giant squid has the largest eyes in the animal kingdom: up to 30 centimeters in diameter, roughly the size of a football. They need these eyes to spot the faint light patches of sperm whales in the deep sea, their main predators.

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