We, humans, do a lot of things better than animals, but running isn’t one of them. There are lots of animals that evolved into true “speed machines” either to catch their prey or to run away from predators.
We were curious to find out which are the five fastest land animals in the world, so we did a bit of research and ended up with interesting results.
Lion
The King of the Jungle might seem composed slowly walking through the jungle, but if he sees something he would like to eat, he will run fast. Lions can run at the speed of 50.0 mph (80.5 km/h).
Blue Wildebeest
Blue Wildebeest can run at 50 mph (80.5 km/h), which curiously matches the speed of their main predator, the lion. Blue Wildebeest mostly inhabit Western Africa including Angola, Botswana, and Mozambique.
Springbok
Springboks also have a lion as their main predator, but they have much better chances of surviving the wild than blue wildebeest since they can run at 55 mph (88 km/h). They mostly inhabit southern and southwestern Africa and are South Africa’s national animal.
Pronghorn
Africa isn’t the only continent with super-fast animals. Pronghorn, also known as American antelope, can achieve the speed of 55 mph (88 km/h).
Cheetah
Lions may be the King of the Jungle, but Cheetahs are the King of Speed in the animal world. Native to North, Southern and East Africa, they can achieve an incredible speed of 68.0–75.0 mph (109.4–120.7 km/h). Cheetah accelerates from 0 to 60.0 mph (96.6 km/h) in under three seconds.
