Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] I am thinking of an animal from Africa. It is the world's fastest land animal. Yes. Running at over 70 mph. Do you have any idea what animal it is? Get ready to shout out your answer in one, two, three.
[00:00:16] If you shouted out the cheetah, then yes, you are absolutely correct. Most people know that the cheetah is the world fastest mammal. But do you know what the world's fastest bird, fish and bug is?
[00:00:33] That is what we're going to talk about today. Welcome to planet CPR. Conserve. Protect. Restore. A place to discover our planet near and far and in our backyard. I am your host, fledge Fiamingo. And as a safari ranger from South Africa, I love to discover new things about the planet and the creatures that live around us and then share it with others. Even though we might not understand everything, like spiders, snakes and sharks, they are still important to the health of our planet. And discovering something new leads to understanding. And understanding leads to respect. And respect leads to conserving, protecting and restoring the planet we all share. So grab your thirst for knowledge and discover how we can make a difference today to conserve, protect and restore what we have left. Our planet is filled with pretty spectacular creatures, which I just love learning about. And as a safari ranger, boy, do I get excited about learning about something new and then sharing it with others so that maybe they can get excited, too. And as I said at the beginning of this, the world's fastest mammal is the cheetah. And pretty much everyone knows that. But, wow. I'm going to share some amazing things about the fastest birds, fish and bugs today. And we're going to start off with those that live in the ocean. So are you ready to jump into the ocean with me? And we are going to talk about the fastest fish in the ocean. So get ready to put on your goggles, your snorkels and your fins, your wetsuits, your cameras, and bring your thirst for knowledge. And let's dive in together. Are you ready to discover some fun facts with fledge? Here we go. Fun facts to learn about the creatures that we share this world with. Shout out. I am ready. In three, two, one.
[00:02:26] If you have ever ventured into the ocean or had the opportunity to look under the surface, it is quite astounding the variety of different fish that live in the ocean. And the one that I want to talk about today is considered the fastest. Now, it's really, really difficult for scientists and fishermen to try and figure out how fast fish can actually swim. And so there are lots of different facts out there trying to decide how fast a fish can actually swim. But what we found out is out of all the fish in the ocean, from the sharks to the little reef fish, to the well known bluefin tuna, the highest recorded speed by a fish is the Pacific sailfish. Can you say Pacific sailfish? Would you like to try? Guess how fast it has been recorded. Would you like to say 30 miles an hour? Would you like to shout out 50 miles an hour? Oh, no, you got to go higher than that. What, about 60 or 70? Would you like to shout out 80 miles an hour? Believe it or not, the fastest recorded speed for the Pacific sailfish is 110 mph. Woohoo. Boy, what I would give to be able to swim 110 mph in the ocean. Ha.
[00:03:50] That would make summer vacation so much fun. When going to the beach, right? Just think, if you go to the beach and you see the dolphins, you could run quickly, jump in the water, and then go and swim with the dolphins for a while. Wow. Can you believe the Pacific sailfish is so fast? Congratulations, sailfish. You are the fastest recorded fish in the open ocean. Okay, it's time to get dry, climb out of the ocean, take off your wetsuit and your fins, and wow. Let's bring your thirst for knowledge and let's talk about the next creature we're going to talk about today, which is going to be the world's fastest bug. And oftentimes when we talk about bugs, we may refer to them as insects. Do you have any idea how many legs an insect has? Can you shout out the answer? If you shouted six legs, then yes, you are correct. Insects have six legs. And so we're going to talk about something that's quite amazing, because when you have six little legs and you're running around, the little insect we're going to talk about today is considered the world's fastest insect. Say hello to the australian tiger beetle. Now, what I'm about to tell you is not going to sound very fast. The australian tiger beetle, it only runs at about five and a half miles per hour. Somewhere in between five and 6, you're probably thinking, wow, that's not very fast, but I want you to remember how small an insect is. And so the australian tiger beetle is an average sized beetle that goes running around on its six little legs. But at five and a half miles per hour, when you think about the size of the beetle, it is running 171 body lengths a second. Now, let's put that into a little bit of perspective, right? Because it doesn't sound very fast. Here we go. I want you to think of a six foot human being running 171 body lengths a second. So the australian tiger beetle does just that. If a human being that is six foot tall runs at the same speed, we would run over 720 mph. Are you kidding? That's almost the speed of sound. That is like a supersonic fighter jet flying at almost the speed of sound. That is how fast the little tiger beetle runs. So 5 miles an hour, even though it doesn't sound too fast for its size, runs incredibly fast for a little bug. How fast can you run? Can you picture those six little legs on that little insect just moving so fast? That is absolutely amazing. Have you had fun today learning about, wow, the fastest fish and the fastest little bug that lives in Australia? I've had a lot of fun sharing this information with you, but we have one more to do. It is time now to learn about the ones that fly. Let's find out some fun facts about planet's fastest bird. And before we learn about the world's fastest flying bird, there are some pretty incredible birds out there. Hummingbirds. Wow. Hummingbirds are spectacular creatures and boy, can they move fast. And so we're not going to talk about the hummingbirds, we're not going to talk about the highest flying birds. We're not going to talk about the largest bird. But we are going to talk about a bird that flies so fast. Do you have any idea what bird we're going to talk about today? Go ahead and shout out your answer if you think you know. Did you shout out penguin?
[00:07:40] Yeah. It's amazing that a penguin can swim but cannot fly and is a bird. The bird that we're going to talk about has the highest recorded speed of pretty much any creature. And it is the peregrine falcon. And it is quite amazing because this is a predator, it is a bird of prey. And it has been recorded that when it dives to go and find its prey, it is over 190 mph. That's 300. Gosh, that is amazing. Amazing speed by this little bird. Okay, I'm going to try and help you put the speed into perspective. A football field is about 300ft from end to end. When a peregrine falcon reaches its top speed, it can fly over a football field in 1 second. That means in 10 seconds it could have flown over ten football fields. I don't know about you, but that is so fast. Have you had fun learning about some of the fastest creatures that we share this planet with? I have had an absolute blast sharing this information with you. And what's amazing is when we find out and learn more about the creatures that we share this planet with. We can make a difference. And you, yes, you could make a small difference today. That would make a huge impact tomorrow. I hope that you have learned something great today on planet CPR to help us all conserve, protect and restore the planet we all share until our next adventure together. This is Safari ranger Fledge fiamingo signing off.
