The Common Swift has officially lost its crownas thefastest-flying animal in the sky. So who took the title? The PeregrineFalcon? Afrigatebird? Perhaps theGrey-headed Albatross? None of the above. The answer mightsurprise you, because according to the latest research, the fastest flierin the animal kingdom isn't a bird at all. It'sabat.
Butfirst, some background: The Peregrine Falcon is indisputably the fastest animal in the sky. It has been measured at speedsabove 83.3 m/s(186 mph), but only when stooping, ordiving. So for many years,it was commonly held by scientiststhat the fastest-flying bird in level flight was the (formerly known as the Spine-tailed Swift), which couldsupposedly reachspeeds of up to 47m/s (105 mph). That number, however,hadnever been scientifically proven.
It turns out that measuring the speed of animalsin flight is actually fairly difficult, and it wasn’t until 2009 that a research team from Lund University in Sweden used high-speed cameras to scientifically measure what they believed to be the fastest flieron the planet, the . At a scientifically verifiable 31m/s (69 mph), achieved during mating flights (also known as “”), the swift was named the fastest pair of wings in the world. It held that title for seven years, but earlier this month scientists published acrowning a new fastest flier:the Brazilian free-tailed bat.
Swift fans(not this)disappointed at the dethroning of their champion cantake solace in the fact that the Common Swift still holds the record for. There is no indication that bats are anywhere close to taking that record from them anytime soon.