It’s been a while. 2 years and 2 months to be exact. And a lot has changed. I moved house, got a new job, visited 7 new countries and somehow won a trophy for pole dancing (2014 me would definitely have struggled to believe that one!)
But one thing has stayed the same. I still love the natural world and everything it has to offer (excluding snakes and jumping spiders – that hasn’t changed either!)
I started this blog because I wanted to spread this excitement. My sister has been telling me to write again continuously for 2 years. And I’ve finally had enough of my own excuses and downright laziness. The natural world out there is pretty bloomin’ impressive. And it’s about time I started appreciating that again!
SPEEDY SPECIES – SPRINT FOR GOLD!
There is something about watching the Olympics that makes me feel incredibly proud and determined. Unfortunately, there’s also nothing that makes me feel more pathetic as a human being than watching those incredible athletes whilst I’m under a duvet on the sofa.
I spend my time in swimming pools leisurely doing a couple of lengths before convincing myself I’ve earned 10 minutes in the sauna…whilst Michael Phelps has 23 gold medals weighing him down! And I feel quite proud about running a couple of miles before work in the morning…until I remember Mo Farah would have lapped me about 4 times and still be smiling when he finished. These athletes certainly motivate me to get moving. None more so than the super-human speedster that is Mr Usain Bolt. He sprinted straight into the spotlight in Beijing 8 years ago with 3 gold medals and 3 smashed world records. And after another powerful performance in Rio, he now holds the never-seen-before triple-triple (3 gold medals in 3 events in 3 consecutive Olympics) – and he spent less than 2 minutes actually running in these games!
There is no denying his brilliance. But unfortunately, I’ve got news for Bolt. He’s not the fastest animal on the planet. Not by a long way.
These games got me thinking about the world record holders in the natural world. They’ll come as no surprise to you, as they’ve earned their own fame and accolades over the years. But I thought it would be interesting to delve a little deeper into what makes these animals so brilliant at what they do. We’ll start with everyone’s favourite, furry speedster…
The Cheetah
Or the Ferrari of the animal kingdom. They can go from 0 to 60 mph in a couple of strides, reaching top speeds of up to 70mph in some cases. Even they’d make Usain Bolt look slow, with his top speed only reaching around 27mph in comparison.
Any animal that can power themselves to these speeds so quickly must have special adaptations. Like most things built for speed, the cheetah’s success starts with aerodynamics. It’s slight build, flattened rib cage, small head and long, strong legs make it the perfect shape to storm across the Serengeti. Their smaller heads house a shorter, lighter skull with large nasal cavities and their heart and lungs are larger than other cats meaning they can increase their breathing rates rapidly and pump huge amounts of blood around their body to power their muscles.
Even some of these muscles are specialised – the hind legs are packed with fast-twitch fibres which provides the explosion of power needed for such impressive acceleration. And their claws act like running spikes, helping them to grip the ground when travelling so fast.
But what people believe is the key to the cheetahs speed is something you might not expect. It’s not just down to a streamline, lightweight body or powerful muscular legs, but the most flexible spine of any cat. The joints are simple and open so they can move much more, making them quick on their feet if their prey decides to change direction. In fact, they’re so agile when running at full speed their hind and front legs actually overlap, creating a powerful spring to fire them across the plains in 10m strides. It’s these longer strides lengths and the sheer number of them that makes the cheetah a perfect sprinter – and that is thanks to a long and flexible spine, who knew!
There’s a price to pay for all these specializations though. These powerful cats are built for speed, but they can’t do much else when it comes to hunting prey. Their sprints need so much energy and effort to keep their spine springing and legs moving that they can only keep it up for around 10 seconds. That’s long enough to beat Usain Bolt in a 100m final, but not to catch a tasty looking Springbok grazing 300m away. So they’ve had to adapt their hunting strategy as well.
And they’ve found the most successful method is a game of predator/prey Grandma’s footsteps. They crouch down in the grasses and stalk their prey until they’re as close as 30m. And then they pounce, tripping their prey up with a large claw in their front paw and taking the vital (and slightly horrifying) killer bite onto their windpipe – crushing it and causing their prey to suffocate – how lovely!
As you can see there is A LOT to write about these super speedy cats and there are even more athletic species I could mention. But I’ll save that until next time. One things for sure if there was ever an Animal Kingdom Olympic games, I wouldn’t be quite so relaxed if I was Usain Bolt – there’d be no question of a gold medal for the cheetah.
Guess what I know? 