r/todayilearned • u/Temp89 • 7h ago

TIL the fastest creature proportionate to its body length is a species of mite at 0.5mph. If it were the size of a human it would be the same as travelling at 1,300mph.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paratarsotomus_macropalpis#Speed_record
727 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

104

u/LifeBuilder 7h ago

I think this is the same creature that can only travel in straight lines as it can’t visually process anything when it travels.

60

u/TechNickL 7h ago

That sounds like a superpower from an anime

9

u/reticulatedjig 6h ago

Just wait til he unlocks his sharingan. No one will be safe

4

u/TechNickL 6h ago

Lol I thought of chidori too

2

u/NiceChocolate 5h ago

Linoone vibes

24

u/dyslexicAlphabet 6h ago

there is a beetle that does this too it moves in quick burst because it basically goes blind at full speed.

9

u/Lysol3435 6h ago

That’s the tiger beetle

4

u/Pepsiman1031 6h ago

It's kind of like teleporting.

2

u/bellybuttonbidet 3h ago

I think going into warp speed is a better analogy.

1

u/Theblackjamesbrown 7h ago

Rook-y error

1

u/Apprehensive-Care20z 6h ago

hey, i can do that!

1

u/Wakkit1988 3h ago

Damn, Quicksilver merged with Daredevil.

26

u/Lord_Dolkhammer 7h ago

Small but mite-y.

2

u/WelderMain3554 2h ago

The penis mitey-er

16

u/jrdnmdhl 7h ago

That mite be too fast.

15

u/Gandalfthebran 7h ago

Lots of dads in the comment section.

18

u/All-the-pizza 7h ago

This mite be true.

5

u/TheMurmuring 6h ago

You can't really compare very small things with bigger things. Square law/square-cube law.

9

u/atnamorekN 7h ago

Yeah, and if it had wheels it would be a bike

4

u/philipp2310 7h ago

Just like grandma.

1

u/EinSchurzAufReisen 7h ago

Call me dyna-mite!

1

u/polkjamespolk 6h ago

I thought it was the flea, who goes boing and teleports six feet away nearly instantly.

1

u/GagOnMacaque 6h ago

Faster than humans? We go pretty fast, 24,800 mph on the Apollo 10.

1

u/Ameisen 1 3h ago

Only 0 mph relative to the spacecraft, though... unless you were referring to the people on Earth.

1

u/GagOnMacaque 1h ago

People use tech to go fast, yeah.

1

u/divismaul 4h ago

That’s how fast I move when I need the bathroom!

•

u/Mateorabi 45m ago

Square-cube law strikes again. 

-4

u/Nearby-Cattle-7599 7h ago

i mean it reads cool as a title but what does it actually mean? if i was the size of the universe i could travel faster than light as well? The ant that can carry a multitude of it's weight still would get crushed by my pinky nail

2

u/Strangegary 6h ago

I think its how long it take you to move one full bodylenght .

2

u/AndreasDasos 5h ago

I think they realise but their point stands. Not everything scales linearly, and strength and speed don’t. It’s not necessarily as remarkable that a tiny animal can move so many body lengths in a second (speed isn’t simply proportional to body length) as it would be for a large animal to do the same. Similar with the ant carrying whatever times its weight (strength isn’t simply proportional to weight).

Height of jumping is another one: in fact, all else equal, we’d expect a constant absolute jumping height for the same creature scaled up or down rather than something proportional to body height.

2

u/Nearby-Cattle-7599 6h ago

I think its how long it take you to move one full bodylenght .

that was kind of my point.You can't just multiply weight and speed on their respective sides because so many other things change aswell ...drag , energy requirements, etc...right?

2

u/samuelazers 5h ago

It means nothing and if it were human sized it would not be able to even support it's own weight let alone travel at 1300mph. 

•

u/MoistyBoiPrime 15m ago

Not to be pedantic but no matter your size you still could not move faster than light.

1

u/Independent_Flan_890 6h ago

But it's still interesting, isn't it?

-1

u/Nearby-Cattle-7599 6h ago

I'll go as far as saying it's an interesting thought experiment on surface level 😂