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Hummingbirds outpace fighter jets

Composite photo of an Anna’s hummingbird executing a high-speed dive. The males make the dives to impress females. Photograph: Charles Clarke.

Hummingbirds are the fastest animals on Earth, relative to their body size. They can cover more body lengths per second than any other vertebrate and for their size can even outpace fighter jets and the space shuttle – while withstanding g-forces that would make a fighter pilot black out.