Fast Animals

Haliaeetus leucocephalus

The bald eagle is a large bird of prey and the national bird of the United States, typically found near large bodies of open water with an abundant fish supply, from Alaska and Canada down through the contiguous United States. The species was once endangered in the U.S. due to hunting, habitat loss, and the pesticide DDT, which thinned its eggshells and caused widespread breeding failures; after DDT was banned and decades of conservation effort, bald eagle populations recovered enough for the species to be removed from the U.S. endangered species list in 2007.

Basiliscus basiliscus

The basilisk lizard, nicknamed the 'Jesus Christ lizard,' is famous for its remarkable ability to run upright across the surface of water for short distances without sinking. Native to the rainforests of Central and northern South America, it relies on this unusual skill primarily to escape predators.

Acinonyx jubatus

The cheetah is the fastest land animal on Earth, built for explosive short sprints across the open grasslands and semi-desert of Africa, with a small, remnant population also surviving in Iran. Its speed comes at a genetic cost: cheetahs went through a severe population bottleneck thousands of years ago, leaving today's cheetahs with unusually low genetic diversity, which makes the species more vulnerable to disease on top of the threats it already faces from habitat loss and human-wildlife conflict.

Dromaius novaehollandiae

The emu is the second-largest living bird in the world by height, a flightless giant native to the open plains and deserts of Australia. Despite being unable to fly, it's an exceptionally fast and powerful runner, capable of covering long distances across the outback in search of food and water.

Capra ibex

The Alpine ibex is a wild goat species famous for its massive, ridged, backward-curving horns and remarkable ability to scale near-vertical cliff faces in the mountains of the European Alps. Once hunted to near extinction, the entire modern population descends from a small group protected in a single Italian nature reserve in the 19th century.

Aepyceros melampus

The impala is a medium-sized antelope found across eastern and southern African savannas, famous for its explosive leaping ability when startled.

Herpailurus yagouaroundi

The jaguarundi is a small, elusive wildcat found from South America through Central America, notable for a long, slender, weasel-like body unlike the more compact build of most wild cats. Despite living alongside the much larger jaguar across parts of its range, the two are only distantly related within the cat family.

Equus quagga

The plains zebra is the most common and widespread zebra species, roaming the grasslands of eastern and southern Africa in large, ever-shifting herds.

Casuarius casuarius

The southern cassowary is one of the largest and most dangerous birds in the world, a flightless giant native to the tropical rainforests of northern Australia and New Guinea. Despite its bulk, it is an excellent swimmer and can sprint through dense forest at considerable speed, using a large bony helmet-like casque atop its head to push through thick vegetation.

Velociraptor mongoliensis

Velociraptor was a small, fast, feathered predatory dinosaur that lived in the arid deserts of what is now Mongolia during the Late Cretaceous period, around 75 to 71 million years ago — far smaller than its famous Hollywood depiction. It belongs to the Dromaeosauridae, a family of small-to-medium theropod dinosaurs closely related to modern birds, and most of what scientists know about it comes from fossils recovered in Mongolia's Gobi Desert, including one of the most famous dinosaur fossils ever found: the 'Fighting Dinosaurs,' discovered in 1971, which captures a Velociraptor locked in combat with a Protoceratops at the moment both animals died.

Gulo gulo

The wolverine is the largest land-dwelling member of the weasel family, a solitary and famously tenacious predator and scavenger of far northern forests and tundra. Despite its bear-like appearance, it is much smaller than its reputation suggests, roughly the size of a medium dog, but is capable of driving much larger animals like wolves away from a carcass.

Thunnus albacares

The yellowfin tuna is a large, fast-swimming fish found in tropical and subtropical waters across the world's oceans, prized both as one of the ocean's most powerful predators and as one of the most commercially important fish species for human consumption. Its name comes from the bright yellow coloring of its dorsal and anal fins, which become especially long and dramatic in mature adults.