Top 10 Fastest Animals In The World
2. Spine tailed Swift, 106 mph
Spine tailed Swift is the second fastest animal species on Earth. In another point of view it is the fastest flying bird in powered flight. That is Spine tailed Swift won’t use any kind of supporting powers like wind currents to make it’s flight fast. It is native to central Asia and Siberia and can gain top flying speed of 106 mph.
Spine tailed Swifts have short legs and long wings, makes their flight smooth. They used to spend most part of their lifespan in sky, used to breed in nest within high elevated cliffs.
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Spine tailed Swift is also a migratory bird, used to travel several hundreds of miles in various seasons.
The white-throated needletail, also known as needle-tailed swift or spine-tailed swift, is a large swift. It is commonly reputed to reach speeds of up to 170 km/h, though this has not been verified.
These birds have very short legs which they use only for clinging to vertical surfaces. They build their nests in rock crevices in cliffs or hollow trees. They never settle voluntarily on the ground[citation needed] and spend most of their lives in the air, living on the insects they catch in their beaks.
These swifts breed in rocky hills in central Asia and southern Siberia. This species is migratory, wintering south in the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia and Australia. It is a rare vagrant in Western Europe, but has been recorded as far west as Norway, Sweden and Great Britain. In June 2013, the bird was spotted in the United Kingdom, the first sighting in 22 years. This bird flew into a wind turbine and died; its body was sent to a museum.
The white-throated needletail is a mid-sized bird, similar in size to an Alpine swift, but a different build, with a heavier barrel-like body. They are black except for a white throat and white under-tail, which extends on to the flanks, and a somewhat paler brown back.
The Hirundapus needletailed swifts get their name from the spiny end to the tail, which is not forked as in the Apus typical swifts.