birding-aus

Peregrines

To: "Evan Beaver" <>
Subject: Peregrines
From: David Stowe <>
Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:56:24 +1000
Couldn't agree more Evan!
Maybe they should train a Leopard to sky dive so that it can be the fastest 4 legged animal and beat the Cheetah! To hell with the training actually; may as well just throw it out of a 747 and break the record good and proper! ;-)

I can understand why Stephen Debus must be frustrated trying to illustrate the facts to people.

I have driven alongside a Peregrine at eye level as it came in on an attack run at a group of stationary Galahs. I was doing 80km/h and as it got close it accelerated faster than that and took a Galah on the wing right in front of me.
I reckon even 80+km/h flying level (not diving) is pretty awesome!

David Stowe



On 18/06/2008, at 2:30 PM, Evan Beaver wrote:

I am being slightly facetious, but it's with good reason to illustrate a point.

Did the falcon fly under it's own power to 10,000 feet? If not, I
suggest that a Yellowfin tuna, or something similarly dense and
aerodynamic would flog the record. My point being that if you
manufacture some bizarre situation, yes they are the fastest animal on
earth, and they might still be with the 'lower' (still outrageously
fast) speed of about 200, but human involvement in the test merely
adds a curiosity, not a fact.

EB

On 6/18/08, Andrew Taylor <> wrote:
On Wed, Jun 18, 2008 at 10:34:10AM +1000, Kurtis Lindsay wrote:
But at speeds of up to 390 km/h, clearly the Peregrine Falcon reamins
the fastest animal and perhaps fastest organism on  earth.

I wouldn't count on this because the basic physics suggest Gyrfalcons have
a higher maximum diving speed, essentially because they are heavier.
When someone trains a big female Gyrfalcon to chase a lure tossed out of
an aeroplane it may dive faster.

Andrew
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--
Evan Beaver
Lapstone, Blue Mountains, NSW
lat=-33.77, lon=150.64
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