The Mantid Shrimp has incredibly fast jaw snapping movement that stuns and even kills its prey; this guy as far as speed is concerned leaves the shrimp for dead. It is unique amongst ants and does so by a small evolutionary change to the mandibles that makes them perform more like a spring.

https://newatlas.com/dracula-ant-fastest-animal-movement/57648/

PermeateFree said:

The Mantid Shrimp has incredibly fast jaw snapping movement that stuns and even kills its prey; this guy as far as speed is concerned leaves the shrimp for dead. It is unique amongst ants and does so by a small evolutionary change to the mandibles that makes them perform more like a spring.

https://newatlas.com/dracula-ant-fastest-animal-movement/57648/

Any data on Myrmecia in this land speed record?

roughbarked said:

PermeateFree said:

The Mantid Shrimp has incredibly fast jaw snapping movement that stuns and even kills its prey; this guy as far as speed is concerned leaves the shrimp for dead. It is unique amongst ants and does so by a small evolutionary change to the mandibles that makes them perform more like a spring.

https://newatlas.com/dracula-ant-fastest-animal-movement/57648/

Any data on Myrmecia in this land speed record?

>>Previously, the title was believed to belong to mantis shrimp, which can punch their powerful claws at over 80 km/h (50 mph), and trap-jaw ants, which can snap their mandibles closed at up to 230 km/h (143 mph). But the Dracula ant blows them both out of the water – it can snap its jaws at a painful 324 km/h (201 mph).<<

PermeateFree said:

roughbarked said:

PermeateFree said:

The Mantid Shrimp has incredibly fast jaw snapping movement that stuns and even kills its prey; this guy as far as speed is concerned leaves the shrimp for dead. It is unique amongst ants and does so by a small evolutionary change to the mandibles that makes them perform more like a spring.

https://newatlas.com/dracula-ant-fastest-animal-movement/57648/

Any data on Myrmecia in this land speed record?

>>Previously, the title was believed to belong to mantis shrimp, which can punch their powerful claws at over 80 km/h (50 mph), and trap-jaw ants, which can snap their mandibles closed at up to 230 km/h (143 mph). But the Dracula ant blows them both out of the water – it can snap its jaws at a painful 324 km/h (201 mph).<<

Fascinating.

Fastest ant running may be the Saharan silver ant 2.1 km/h.

Mantis shrimp punches fast enough to induce cavitation in the water.

The fastest animal in level flight is a bat. Brazilian free-tailed bat. It has been measured at 162 km/h. Https://www.audubon.org/news/the-common-swift-no-longer-fastest-flying-animal

The fastest animal in diving flight is still the Peregrine Falcon, at 320 km/h. Or if you believe National Geographic, at 389 km/h. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peregrine_falcon

Did QI give the squirting cucumber as the fastest plant? No. The white mulberry.

“The fastest thing in the natural world is pollen that comes out of the white mulberry (morus alba). It is pushed out of the flower at half the speed of sound. It is the fastest thing in biology. White mulberries are where we get silk from, because silkworms feed on the leaves.”
Half the speed of sound is 617 km/h.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00497-005-0018-9
“The stamen was inflexed within the floral bud. Exposure to dry air initially resulted in a gradual movement of the stamen. This caused fine threads to tear at the stomium, ensuring dehiscence of the anther, and subsequently enabled the anther to slip off a restraining pistillode. The sudden release of stored elastic energy in the spring-like filament drove the stamen to straighten in less than 25 μs, and reflex the petals to velocities in excess of half the speed of sound. This is the fastest motion yet observed in biology, and approaches the theoretical physical limits for movements in plants.”

Humans can manage body part speeds up to 169 km/h. (Hand during a baseball pitch). Faster than a mantis shrimp and slower than a trapdoor ant.

mollwollfumble said:

Humans can manage body part speeds up to 169 km/h. (Hand during a baseball pitch). Faster than a mantis shrimp and slower than a trapdoor ant.

Not so good at keeping lions at bay, or catching your prey unless you can catch in your hand, then dispatch it in some other way.

PermeateFree said:

mollwollfumble said:

Humans can manage body part speeds up to 169 km/h. (Hand during a baseball pitch). Faster than a mantis shrimp and slower than a trapdoor ant.

Not so good at keeping lions at bay, or catching your prey unless you can catch in your hand, then dispatch it in some other way.

Well, actually, that’s exactly what it was for, a baseball or rock or stick thrown at that speed would be very good at keeping lions at bay.

mollwollfumble said:

PermeateFree said:

mollwollfumble said:

Humans can manage body part speeds up to 169 km/h. (Hand during a baseball pitch). Faster than a mantis shrimp and slower than a trapdoor ant.

Not so good at keeping lions at bay, or catching your prey unless you can catch in your hand, then dispatch it in some other way.

Well, actually, that’s exactly what it was for, a baseball or rock or stick thrown at that speed would be very good at keeping lions at bay.

Only if you were up a big tree.

PermeateFree said:

mollwollfumble said:

Humans can manage body part speeds up to 169 km/h. (Hand during a baseball pitch). Faster than a mantis shrimp and slower than a trapdoor ant.

Not so good at keeping lions at bay, or catching your prey unless you can catch in your hand, then dispatch it in some other way.

(I’ll try that again)

A baseball, or cricket ball or rock or stick moving at that speed would be very effective at keeping lions at bay.

Dogs don’t admire humans for our brains, they admire humans for their ability to move their hands fast enough to throw.

169 km/h is extreme, hardly anyone can manage that. Only a handful of people can manage 160 km/h. But with a spear thrower, speeds over 150 km/h are easier to obtain.

> Only if you were up a big tree.

Good point.

There is a funny story about a white person running to a tree to escape a dangerous animal. To find much to his chagrin that it was already full of black onlookers.

Dr Karl was on the radio yesterday and said that when a tennis player grunts, they can add up to 5 kph to their serving speed.

Cute

https://i.imgur.com/Bh7NZH0.mp4

mollwollfumble said:

PermeateFree said:

mollwollfumble said:

Humans can manage body part speeds up to 169 km/h. (Hand during a baseball pitch). Faster than a mantis shrimp and slower than a trapdoor ant.

Not so good at keeping lions at bay, or catching your prey unless you can catch in your hand, then dispatch it in some other way.

(I’ll try that again)

A baseball, or cricket ball or rock or stick moving at that speed would be very effective at keeping lions at bay.

Dogs don’t admire humans for our brains, they admire humans for their ability to move their hands fast enough to throw.

169 km/h is extreme, hardly anyone can manage that. Only a handful of people can manage 160 km/h. But with a spear thrower, speeds over 150 km/h are easier to obtain.

> Only if you were up a big tree.

Good point.

There is a funny story about a white person running to a tree to escape a dangerous animal. To find much to his chagrin that it was already full of black onlookers.

You are using tools, not your body directly. You might just as well say, a gun would stop a wild animal.

Divine Angel said:

Dr Karl was on the radio yesterday and said that when a tennis player grunts, they can add up to 5 kph to their serving speed.

He’s still on radio?

Tennis is mush faster. How does the serve speed compare to the Dracula ant mandible? I’ll check. Dracula ant 324 km/h. Trap-jaw ant 230 km/h. Fastest recorded tennis serve 263.4 km/h. Damn that’s fast.

So if primitive man wished to protect himself against lions, should he have invented tennis?

By the way, playing cards can be thrown at up to 148 km/h, almost as fast as a spear thrower.

mollwollfumble said:

Divine Angel said:

Dr Karl was on the radio yesterday and said that when a tennis player grunts, they can add up to 5 kph to their serving speed.

He’s still on radio?

Tennis is mush faster. How does the serve speed compare to the Dracula ant mandible? I’ll check. Dracula ant 324 km/h. Trap-jaw ant 230 km/h. Fastest recorded tennis serve 263.4 km/h. Damn that’s fast.

So if primitive man wished to protect himself against lions, should he have invented tennis?

By the way, playing cards can be thrown at up to 148 km/h, almost as fast as a spear thrower.

Don’t think you would last long in the wild moll., but you would be a great teacher by showing the other kids what not to do.

PermeateFree said:

You are using tools, not your body directly. You might just as well say, a gun would stop a wild animal.

Oh well, if we’re using tools, a skydiver can manage 480 km/h. Faster than a Dracula ant mandible. But still not as fast as white mulberry pollen. Way faster than a skydiving peregrine.

Let’s just limit human hand & finger movement to about 160 km/h.

> Don’t think you would last long in the wild moll., but you would be a great teacher by showing the other kids what not to do.

More truth in that than you know. I almost died on a two hour walk a couple of days ago. Heat stroke. I’m nowhere near as fit as I used to be.

mollwollfumble said:

PermeateFree said:

You are using tools, not your body directly. You might just as well say, a gun would stop a wild animal.

Oh well, if we’re using tools, a skydiver can manage 480 km/h. Faster than a Dracula ant mandible. But still not as fast as white mulberry pollen. Way faster than a skydiving peregrine.

Let’s just limit human hand & finger movement to about 160 km/h.

> Don’t think you would last long in the wild moll., but you would be a great teacher by showing the other kids what not to do.

More truth in that than you know. I almost died on a two hour walk a couple of days ago. Heat stroke. I’m nowhere near as fit as I used to be.

How is it that I am not surprised?