During the Summer Olympics that begin Friday (July 26), the world’s top athletes will be running, swimming, jumping and cavorting in amazing displays of human physical abilities.
Wild creatures also have astounding strength, speed, agility and endurance, but need them for survival. Even so, it might be fun to compare Olympians’ abilities with those of some Georgia wild creatures.
Olympian runner Usain Bolt of Jamaica, record-holder in the 100-meter dash, has been clocked at a breathtaking top speed of 27.3 mph. A coyote, though, may attain speeds of 35-43 mph when running. White-tailed deer can reach maximum speeds of 35-40 mph, according to most estimates.
The white-tailed deer also is no slouch at high jumping. The Olympic record for high jump is 7 feet, 10 inches, but deer can jump more than 8 feet high, the typical height of fences to deter deer from gardens. The tiny spittlebug, or froghopper, can hop 2 feet high, equivalent to a human adult jumping over a 70-story building.
When it comes to swimming, Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps in his prime was clocked as fast as 6 mph. In the animal world, a river otter can propel itself through the water at 8 mph. On Georgia’s coast, the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin can reach speeds in the water of 22 mph; its cruising speed of 5 mph keeps pace with the fastest human swimmers.
Olympic marathon competitors run a distance of 26.2 miles. But perhaps no human can match nature’s long-distance endurance spectacle twice a year — the magnificent migration of tens of millions of songbirds flying nonstop some 600 miles for 18 hours across the Gulf of Mexico, from the U.S. Gulf Coast to Mexico in the fall and back to the U.S. in the spring.
Much of the Olympic spotlight will be focused on the gymnasts as they leap and fly through the air, twisting and bending their lithe bodies in amazing contortions. But the gymnasts of the animal world, gray squirrels, never cease to amaze me with their ability to race full speed across tree limbs or leap several feet from branch to branch with seeming ease.
IN THE SKY: From David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer: The moon will be full on Sunday — the Ripe Corn Moon. Mercury is low in the west just after sunset. Mars and Jupiter are in the east a few hours before sunrise. Saturn rises in the east before midnight and will appear near the moon on Wednesday night.
Charles Seabrook can be reached at charles.seabrook@yahoo.com.
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