the fastest on earth is not Usain Bolt ... not Cheetah or Peregrine Falcon !!!

On that day in  Sept 1988, we witnessed the spectacle of a man turning around after passing approx 60m – then raising his hand and still finishing in 9.79 creating a new WR.  Ben Johnson, the Canadian sprinter was rescinded the medal disqualified for doping. 

Mites, along with ticks, are small arthropods belonging to the subclass Acari  and the class Arachnida. The scientific discipline devoted to the study of ticks and mites is called acarology. In soil ecosystems, mites are favored by high organic matter content and by moist conditions, wherein they actively engage in the fragmentation and mixing of organic matter.

Usain Bolt now is the fastest man on earth – holding both the 100M and 200M World records – he is the reigning Olympic champion in three events, the first man to win six Olympic gold medals in sprinting, and an eight-time World champion.  Even Usain Bolt,  cannot outpace greyhounds, cheetahs, or the pronghorn antelope, according to a light-hearted comparison of the extraordinary athleticism of humans and animals in the Veterinary Record. Often we have read that the fastest land animal is the Cheetah which has a recorded speed of 96–120 km/h (60–75 mph). The Peregrine Falcon is the fastest bird, with a speed of 389 km/h (242 mph).  The fastest animal in the sea is the Black marlin, which has a recorded speed of 130 km/h (80 mph).

Humans can run at a maximum speed of 23.4 miles per hour (37.6 kilometres/hour) or 10.4 metres per second, which gives them the edge over the Dromedary camel. Cheetah is much faster and there are many animals which run faster than the fastest man.  Most Quizzers would answer that Cheetah is the fastest animal on land – Scientists would say differently !

To them – insects too are animals ….the Australian tiger beetle could run at a speed of 171 body lengths every second. On the other hand, a cheetah can run at around 16 body lengths every second. However, both these speed demons pale in comparison to P. macropalpis. The tiny mite is only around the size of a sesame seed but it can travel an astounding 322 body lengths in a single second.  So, the fastest land animal is Southern California mite (Paratarsotomus macropalpis), according to a team of researchers from the Claremont Colleges.

It is not speed and distance parameters alone but the body length – the mite was recorded to be running at 322 body lengths per second; which is equivalent of Usain Bolt running at 1,300 miles per hour. The presumed title holder Cheetah by this yardstick moves at a measly 16 body lengths per second. Since the mite’s body size is smaller than a sesame seed, it’s unlikely that the mite could actually beat Usain Bolt, with his great stride, in a one-on-one race. 

“Both relative speed and stride frequency increase as animals get smaller,” Pomona College biologist Jonathan Wright, who led the team, said in a summary of the research. The research team used high-speed cameras to record the mites’ speed in the laboratory and in their natural environment. Extrapolated to the size of a human, the mite's speed is equivalent to a person running roughly 1300 miles per hour.  The mite is local to Southern California and is often found running along rocks or sidewalks. Although it was first identified in 1916, little is known about its habits or food sources.The mites also are adept at stopping and changing directions extremely quickly, attributes the researchers are investigating further for potential insights that may be relevant to bioengineering applications.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

10^th Sept. 2014.