Ranked: Fastest Flying Animals In The World

Fastest Air Animals by Top Speed

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From the skies above, certain animals have mastered the art of speed, reaching extraordinary velocities while flying and diving. These incredible speeds give them a distinct advantage in hunting, allowing them to close in on prey quickly or swoop down with precision.

This graphic visualizes the top speeds of the fastest flying animals in miles-per-hour (mph) for both diving/stooping and horizontal flight.

The data is compiled by Fact Animal from various academic sources and includes the fastest reliably recorded speeds for each animal.

What is the Fastest Flying Animal?

Below, we show the top recorded speeds for the 10 fastest flying animals by horizontal flight and the top three animals by diving/stooping.

Diving or Stooping

Horizontal Flight

When diving, the peregrine falcon is the fastest animal in the world with a staggering top speed of 242 mph (389 km/h). To put that into context, the fastest car in the world recorded a top speed of 330 mph.

The peregrine falcon also ranks seventh in terms of fastest air animals in horizontal flight.

It’s known for its exceptional hunting skills and keen eyesight–reportedly eight times better than that of humans.

The three fastest air animals on the planet, when diving, are all birds of prey. The peregrine falcon, golden eagle, and saker falcon have renowned aerial hunting abilities, including high-speed dives or stoops to capture prey in flight.

The saker falcon is both the third-fastest bird in horizontal flight and when diving. Throughout history, the saker falcon was commonly used by humans as hunters.

Several factors influence the flight speed of birds, including wing shape and size, wing loading (the ratio of body weight to wing area), and the bird’s morphology and muscle efficiency.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To learn more about the fastest land animals on the planet, graphic that visualizes the top speeds of the fastest land animals on the planet.