Record-Breaking Animals You Didn't Know About

 

A few days ago, I read in the paper about the Saharan silver ant, which can run almost 20 times faster than Usain Bolt. While the Jamaican speedster clocks in 4 strides in a second, his Saharan counterpart can walk 47 strides per second.  

So this got me thinking. Which other animals hold world records? 

I did the research and here are the winners: 

• The North American brown bat is the longest sleeper in the world. It can sleep up to 19.9 hours in a day - that's a lot longer than most animals. 

 

• On the flip side, the African bush elephant sleeps the least per day - just 2 hours. 

 

• The Arctic ground squirrel takes the cake (or in this case the cold) for having the coldest body temperature of any animal in the world. Their body temperature - a shocking -2.9°C. (To put it in perspective, us humans will get hypothermia if our temperature drops below 35°C )

 

• The prize for the largest rodent in the world goes to the capybara - it stands 130 centimetres long head-to-tail and is 50 centimetres tall. That's as big as a border collie!

 

• The bee hummingbird is the smallest bird on the planet and stands at a minuscule height of 57 millimetres. It is also the lightest-weighing warm-blooded mammal in the world at 1.6 grams. 

 

• The sperm whale is the loudest animal on the planet and its voice can reach 230 decibels. (In comparison, a jet engine's noise is just 120 decibels, the loudest speaker streams at 122 decibels, humans can speak at volumes as high as 129 decibels and a gunshot can be 140 decibels loud.) 

 

Now here are a few of the whackier winners: 

• A macaw named Skipper Blue from California has the record for being the parrot that has placed the most number of rings on a pole in one minute. His winning number - 19 rings. 

 

• Fellow Californian, a rabbit named Bini, has wiped the floor of competitors by being the rabbit to make the most number of basketball slam dunks in a minute - 7. 

 

• But Bini isn't the only bunny to hold a world record. Finland based Taawi holds the record for being the rabbit able to perform the most magic tricks in under a minute - 20. 

 

• The Japanese Beagle Purin, too has cause for victory. She has the world record for catching the most balls with her paws in under one minute. Her unbroken record - 14. 

 

• Purin's fellow species-mate, Neo the border collie from Somerset, holds the record for being the fastest dog in a hoop-jumping competition. His record time - 8.58 seconds/10 hoops. 

 

Crazy aren't these? 

 

 

-Nisha Prakash