When it comes to agility, speed, and gracefulness, the fastest animals in the world are the best of the best – on land, in the air, and in the water. Their bodies, wings, fins, and legs have been designed by evolution to excel in their environments and give them the advantage they need to survive, hunt prey, and move with ease and skill. Speed is often a matter of survival in the wild. Many of the world’s fastest animals are either hunters or prey. They either need to catch prey for sustenance or escape from predators in order to survive.
While the world’s fastest organisms depend on a range of features to reach their incredible top speeds, the most significant of these is muscle – specifically, the muscle fibers known as “fast-twitch” fibers. The fastest animals have fast-twitch muscle in spades, which do not require oxygen to perform. Fast-twitch muscles work anaerobically, burning quickly through their supply of adenosine triphosphate or ATP (the body’s fuel) to produce short bursts of strength.
Here are the top 20 fastest animals in the world.
| Rank | Animal | Maximum speed |
| 1. | Peregrine falcon | 242 mph (389.5 km/h) |
| 2. | Golden eagle | 200 mph (321.9 km/h) |
| 3. | White-throated needletail swift | 105 mph (169 km/h) |
| 4. | Eurasian hobby | 100 mph (160.9 km/h) |
| 5. | Mexican free-tailed bat | 100 mph (160.9 km/h) |
| 6. | Frigatebird | 95 mph (152.9 km/h) |
| 7. | Rock dove (pigeon) | 92.5 mph (148.9 km/h) |
| 8. | Spur-winged goose | 88 mph (141.6 km/h) |
| 9. | Gyrfalcon | 80 mph (128.8 km/h) |
| 10. | Grey-headed albatross | 79 mph (127.1 km/h) |
| 11. | Cheetah | 68 mph (109.4 km/h) |
| 12. | Sailfish | 67.85 mph (109.2 km/h) |
| 13. | Anna’s hummingbird | 61.06 mph (98.3 km/h) |
| 14. | Swordfish | 60 mph (96.6 km/h) |
| 15. | Ostrich | 60 mph (96.6 km/h) |
| 16. | Pronghorn | 55 mph (88.5 km/h) |
| 16. | Springbok | 55 mph (88.5 km/h) |
| 17. | Quarter Horse | 55 mph (88.5 km/h) |
| 18. | Blue wildebeest | 50 mph (80.5 km/h) |
| 19. | Lion | 50 mph (80.5 km/h) |
| 20. | Blackbuck | 50 mph (80.5 km/h) |
