The Ark Files - Animal Champions

If you think human athletes are awesome, just look at what animals can do! They're champion sprinters, weightlifters, long jumpers, high jumpers, long distance runners, divers, high flyers and gymnasts - and they come in all shapes and sizes.

• For its size, the common flea is the best jumper of them all. It can jump 200 times its own height. And a hungry flea can jump 10,000 times an hour. If you could jump as well as a flea, you could leap a 50-storey building in a single bound.
• The honey bee is tiny compared to a human. But it can fly almost as fast as a human runs. It beats its wings an incredible 15,000 times every minute.
• Goliath beetles are the heaviest insects on earth. They can weigh more than 100 grams. That's 200 times more than a house fly.
• Goliath beetles are the heaviest insects on earth. They can weigh more than 100 grams. That's 200 times more than a house fly.
• The heart of a blue whale measures approximately 1.8 metres - more than the height of an average human.
• The wandering albatross has the longest wings of any bird. The record wingspan for this bird is 3.45 metres - about the same as a medium-sized car.
• The sailfish is the fastest fish in the world. At 109 kilometres per hour, it can overtake most submarines.
• The tortoiseshell butterfly can fly as high as a plane. It can even fly over Mount Everest.
• An ant can lift a stone 50 times its own weight in its strong jaws and carry it to the top of its ant hill. If a man were this strong, he could lift a car weighing nearly 4 tonnes and carry it up a hill.
• The jumping spider can leap 40 times the length of its body to pounce on unsuspecting prey. It judges this distance so well that it lands right on top of its target. Having eight eyes in its head probably helps the spider judge the distance so accurately.
• READERS No need to run! The tortoise and the snail both move very slowly. If you moved as slowly as a snail, it would take you a full minute to walk one metre.
• If all animals entered a jumping competition, the elephant would win the wooden spoon. With its heavy body and legs that can barely bend, it can't jump at all.
• Whales are deep-sea diving champions. Like humans and other mammals, whales cannot breathe under water. Before diving, the gigantic sperm whale can store enough oxygen to hold its breath for two hours. This allows it to dive more than three kilometres beneath the ocean's surface to catch squid.
• Queen termites can live and lay eggs for more than 50 years. Some scientists believe they can live over 100 years.
• The South African sharp-nosed frog is a champion long jumper. It can leap 5.35 metres.
• Imagine how far humans could jump if they had legs like a frog! Frogs are great jumpers because they have extremely long, muscular legs. Also, their legs fold up into the shape of a 'Z' and act as springs to propel the frog into the air.
• With no legs at all, the mamba snake can move on its belly at a speed of 19 kilometres per hour. It is the fastest land snake in the world. A snake moves by pressing its ribs against the ground.
• The monarch butterfly migrates about 3,220 kilometres one way. It gets enough energy from a single meal of nectar to fly about 965 kilometres without stopping.