Peregrine falcons are famous as the fastest animal on earth, diving at more than 200 miles an hour (320 km/h) to capture prey.
Most of the time they don’t travel that fast and are still successful hunters. What prompts a peregrine to stoop at top speed?
A PLOS study in 2018 revealed that high speed isn’t just for catching up to prey. It makes peregrines more accurate!
Wow!
(photo by Chad+Chris Saladin)
At those high speeds, everything else looks like its standing still – so the prey is not a “moving” target anymore.