Mondo Knows Facts

The peregrine falcon is the fastest creature on Earth

In its high-speed hunting stoop, the falcon can exceed 300 kilometres per hour.

When diving for prey from high altitudes, peregrine falcons pull back their wings and shape their bodies into streamlined teardrops. Special bony cones inside their nostrils prevent high-pressure airflow from damaging their lungs during these extreme dives.

Peregrine Falcon (2) (9594380746)
Jacob Spinks from Northamptonshire, England ยท CC BY 2.0 ยท licence ยท source

Where this comes from

Natural History Museum

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

Go further

More facts like this

Tags: falcon, birds, speed

The peregrine falcon is the fastest creature on Earth: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?
In its high-speed hunting stoop, the falcon can exceed 300 kilometres per hour. The figure is taken from Natural History Museum, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a animals fact?
Yes. It sits on the Animals shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?
The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.