List of birds by flight speed
This is a list of the fastest flying birds in the world. A bird's velocity is necessarily variable; a hunting bird will reach much greater speeds while diving to catch prey than when gliding. The bird with the greatest airspeed velocity is the Peregrine falcon, able to exceed 321.8 km/h (200 mph) in its hunting dives. The greatest self-powered horizontal speed is achieved by Homing Racing Pigeons. They can fly 1100 km (700 miles) in a single day, and they have been recorded flying at 177 km/h (110 miles per hour), making them the birds with the fastest speed ever recorded on a self-powered flight, and the fastest endurance flight.
Pursuit predation
While most big cat species are individual, ambush predators, Cheetahs ("Acinonyx jubatus") are pursuit predators. Widely known as the fastest terrestrial animal, with speeds reaching 61–64 miles per hour, cheetahs take advantage of their speed during chases. However, their speed and acceleration also have disadvantages, as both can only be sustained for short periods of time. Studies show that cheetahs can maintain maximum speed for a distance of approximately 500 yards. Due to these limitations, cheetahs are often observed running at moderate speeds during chases. There are claims that the key to cheetahs' pursuit success may not be just their speed. Cheetahs are extremely agile, able to maneuver and change directions at very high speeds in very short amounts of time. This extensive maneuverability can make up for unsustainable high speed pursuit, as it allows cheetahs to quickly close the distance between prey without decreasing their speed when prey change direction.