Amazing Animal Athletes: Humans v Animals

Amazing ANIMAL ATHLETES HUMANS VS ANIMALS Many people believe that the human race is superior to the rest of the Animal Kingdom. In some contexts, this may be true – our ability to solve problems is arguably unsurpassable and has been fundamental in enabling humanity to evolve into what we are today. But, when it comes to speed and strength, we often fall far short of our animal neighbours. RUNNING REALLY FAST Celebrated for his athleticism, Usain Bolt's top recorded speed of 27mph pales in comparison to the cheetah's 70mph, while many other animals including the pronghorn antelope, African lion, and even the domestic cat, could all outrun Bolt in a 100m dash. TOP SPEED Snail I Mouse Squirrel Elephant Usain Bolt Cat Greyhound Lion Pronghorn Cheetah Omph 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 THE SECRET TO SPEED But what is it that makes a cheetah so fast and us so (comparatively) slow? Their tails help them to maintain balance and quickly take sharp turns. Their semi-retractable claws provide them with excellent grip. Humans are at a distinct disadvantage due to running on two legs. Our Most of the cheetah's The cheetah's stride is long (up to 25 feet), while its spine is muscles have a high percentage of fast twitch fibres which assist the cheetah in making big. ultra-flexible and allows muscles are a mixture of fast twitch and slow it to flex and extend its powerful, and quick legs 2.5 times a second. twitch, which make us well suited for endurance tasks. movements. ! Howe ver, it's believed that elite sprinters have a higher percentage of fast-twitch muscle fibres than the average person. RELATIVE SPEED Of course, just because an animal appears slow to us, doesn't mean they're actually slow relative to their size. If some of the world's "slowest" animals were the same size as Usain Bolt – they would be far faster. Usain Bolt 100m in 9.58 secs Elephant Shrew 100m in 2.15 secs!!! RUNNING REALLY FAR It's pretty clear that even the human race's fastest sprinters would lose against many of nature's other best sprinters, but what about running really, really far? Once upon a time we actually had to hunt for our food, but as seen above, most animals (especially those worth catching) could outrun us. This means we had to combine designing weaponry with... endurance. And the records show we're pretty good at it: HUMAN DISTANCE RUNNING RECORDS 30 MILES IN 2:37.31 40 MILES IN 3:45.39 62 MILES IN 6:13.33 100 MILES IN 12:05.43 24 48 HRS HRS DAYS 180.33 MILES 269.11 MILES 638.99 MILES even the marathon (which at 26.2 miles is, by all accounts, pretty tough to complete) is completed by more than half a million people each year in the U.S. alone, which shows that if we train hard enough, most of us would be capable of completing one. In And, even when pitted against other land mammals that cover huge distances in a day, humans still take the crown for longest distance covered in a 24 hour period (188.590 miles, ran by Yiannis Kouros in 1997). DISTANCE TRAVELLED IN A DAY Hyena 12 miles Gray Wolf 50 miles Sled Dog 125 miles Zebra African Wild Dog 30 miles 8 miles Human 180.33 miles Wood Turtle 300 feet THE REASON? What is it that makes mankind the world's best long distance runners? Our bodies are covered in Conversely, many animals can experience heat stroke after only a We're able to store glycogen in our muscles which helps fuel them sweat glands which help us to keep cool during prolonged physical activities. few miles of continuous when running long distances. running due to their inability to effecțively eliminațe heat. JUMPING The current world long jump record is held by Michael Powell, who cleared 8.95 meters (approximately 4.7 times his height) in 1991 - a distance that outshines many species. % JUMP COMPARED TO BODY LENGTH Meadow Jumping Mouse 762% Michael Powell 476% Red Kangaroo 914% Pine Marten 1,778% Impala 666% Puma 871% Kangaroo Rat 1,219% THE WINNERS Flea 22,013% Southern Cricket Frog 9,753% 1ST Spittlebug 7,112% 2ND 3RD The world's (supposed) longest (and highest) jumper is the flea. Fleas don't just possess super-strong muscles; they also store energy in a springy protein called resilin, which when released helps to supercharge the jump. However, while in pure distance terms, humans can jump pretty far, it's all relative. If we pretend that the above species are all 6'2", the same height as Michael Powell, our substandard long-jumping abilities begin to show – especially in comparison to a number of insects. Despite being less than a couple of mm long, the flea can jump around 13 inches. This is equivalent to Michael Powell jumping an impressive 413.75 meters, which could see him clear the Empire State Building. SWIMMING César Cielo currently holds the world record for the fastest 100m swim, at 46.91 seconds (and an average speed of 2.39 m/s). However, we are not built for the water, and would (unsurprisingly) lose in a race against most fish and marine mammals. THE BEST SWIMMERS Herring 3.8mph Human (César Cielo) 5.3mph Manatee 15mph Dolphin 21.5mph Orca 34.5mph Mako Shark 46mph Black Marlin 50mph Sailfish 68mph SWIMMING SUCCESSFULLY Fish and marine mammals swim so well simply because they evolved for life in the water. Their gills also allow them to breathe In place of a tail, fish have fins, which the y move from side to side to glide underwater, negating the need for them to swim on its surface where turbulence would through the water. slow them down significantly. Marine mammals have Marine mammals have flippers in place of a tail, which they move up and down in order to propel them through the water (much like we do when come to the surface to breathe, however they are able to store oxygen in their muscles and blood enabling them to stay underwater for significant periods (sometimes up to an hour). we wear "flippers“ for swimming). STRENGTH It's well-known that ants are super-strong (comparatively, anyway). It's widely accepted that they can lift 50 times their own weight, but pull-for-pulI, they are no stronger than humans – their size simply means they have less body mass to carry and more muscle force to apply to it. A human-sized ant → wouldn't be able to lift 100x its bodyweight. but... An ant-sized human would be of a similar strength to an ant. HOW STRONG IS A GORILLA? Another unfair test is the gorilla – widely touted as up to 10 times stronger than the average man, this is only applicable to certain movements. For example, a gorilla would struggle to lift much weight overhead, because it would lose balance. X A gorilla's back isn't erect enough. X Their legs don't have the right amount of stabilising muscles. X Their arms are too long. BRING IT! While it's not been tested, humans would most likely be able to "beaț" gorillas in an overhead press competition. Brought to you by: Sources books.google.co.uk musclefood (Zoo-A-Logical Math by Thomas Kearney) Premium nutrition for healthy living researchgate.net madsci.org www.musclefood.com