Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that can help answer the question.
Query: What is the fastest flying animal?
The fastest land animal is the cheetah, which has a recorded speed of . The peregrine falcon is the fastest bird and the fastest member of the animal kingdom with a diving speed of . The fastest animal in the sea is the black marlin, which has a recorded speed of .
Most birds can fly, which distinguishes them from almost all other vertebrate classes. Flight is the primary means of locomotion for most bird species and is used for searching for food and for escaping from predators. Birds have various adaptations for flight, including a lightweight skeleton, two large flight muscles, the pectoralis (which accounts for 15% of the total mass of the bird) and the supracoracoideus, as well as a modified forelimb (wing) that serves as an aerofoil.
This rail is a skulking species, its streaked plumage making it difficult to see in its wetland habitat. Its laterally compressed body allows it to slip though the densest vegetation, and it will "freeze" if surprised in the open. It walks with a high-stepping gait, although it adopts a crouch when it runs for cover. It swims, when necessary, with the jerky motion typical of rails, and it flies short distances low over the reeds with its long legs dangling. Although their flight looks weak, water rails are capable of long sustained flights during their nocturnal migrations, and are sometimes killed in collisions with lighthouses or wires. British-ringed birds have been recovered from as far away as Poland, Czechoslovakia and Sweden.
The cheetah ("Acinonyx jubatus") is the fastest of all land animals, and a member of the family Felidae.
It is the fastest land animal. Cheetahs can reach speeds of in short bursts, but the top end speed of the cheetah is disputed by more recent measurements. The average speed of a cheetah while hunting is about .
The wings of all rails are short and rounded. The flight of those Rallidae able to fly, while not powerful, can be sustained for long periods of time, and many species migrate annually. The weakness of their flight, however, means they are easily blown off course, thus are common vagrants, a characteristic that has led them to colonize many isolated oceanic islands. Furthermore, these birds often prefer to run rather than fly, especially in dense habitat. Some are also flightless at some time during their moult periods.
New Zealand had more species of flightless birds (including the kiwi, several species of penguins, the takahe, the weka, the moa, and several other extinct species) than any other such location. One reason is that until the arrival of humans roughly a thousand years ago, there were no large land predators in New Zealand; the main predators of flightless birds were larger birds.
With a mass of approximately and a length of 5 centimetres (2.0 in), the bee hummingbird ("Mellisuga helenae") is the world's smallest bird species and the smallest warm-blooded vertebrate. Called the "zunzún" in its native habitat on Cuba, it is lighter than a Canadian or U.S. penny. It is said that it is "more apt to be mistaken for a bee than a bird". The bee hummingbird eats half its total body mass and drinks eight times its total body mass each day. Its nest is 3 cm across.
Immelmann remarked that the species' ability to negotiate the dense vegetation of its habitat was more adept than that of other Australian grassfinches. They move along branches by pivoting from "side to side in small hops in an arc-like pattern." Downward, the red-eared firetail moves quickly and acrobatically through the thick foliage.
The Paridae are mainly small stocky woodland species with short stout bills. Some have crests. They are adaptable birds, with a mixed diet including seeds and insects.
A version also exists in India, Pakistan, Germany, Slovakia and Hungary where an analogy to what can fly and what cannot is emphasized instead of Simon saying or not, i.e. "Chidiya ud" (Hindi) which translates to "Bird fly" or "Alle Vögel fliegen hoch" (German) which is "All birds fly high". The term 'bird' can then be replaced with a thing that cannot fly. These games are usually played more with gestures than actual jumping.
This is a monotypic species. All tinamou are from the family Tinamidae, and in the larger scheme are also ratites. Unlike other ratites, tinamous can fly, although in general, they are not strong fliers. All ratites evolved from prehistoric flying birds, and tinamous are the closest living relative of these birds.
In the lower Himalayas of northern Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir, along with the brown fish owl, the Eurasian eagle-owl at the limit of its distribution may co-exist with at least two to three other eagle-owls. One of these, the dusky eagle-owl ("B. coromandus") is smaller, with more uniform tan-brownish plumage, untidy uniform light streaking rather than the Eurasian’s dark streaking below and an even less well-defined facial disc. The dusky is usually found in slightly more enclosed woodland areas than Eurasian eagle-owls. Another is possibly the spot-bellied eagle-owl ("Bubo nipalensis"), which is strikingly different looking, with stark brown plumage, rather than the warm hues typical of the Eurasian, bold spotting on a whitish background on the belly, and somewhat askew ear tufts that are bold white with light brown crossbars on the front. It is possible that both species occur in some parts of the Himalayan foothills but they are not currently verified to occur in the same area, in part because of the spot-bellied’s preference for dense, primary forest. Most similar, with basically the same habitat preferences and the only one verified to co-occur with the Eurasian eagle-owls of the race "B. b. turcomanus" in Kashmir is the Indian eagle-owl ("B. bengalensis"). The Indian species is smaller with a bolder blackish facial disc border, more rounded and relatively smaller wings and partially unfeathered toes. Far to the west, the pharaoh eagle-owl ("B. ascalaphus") also seemingly overlaps in range with the Eurasian, in at least the country of Jordan. Although also relatively similar to the Eurasian eagle-owl, the pharaoh is distinguished by its smaller size, paler, more washed-out plumage and the diminished size of its ear-tufts.
For flight to occur in Aves, four physical forces (thrust and drag, lift and weight) must be favorably combined. In order for birds to balance these forces, certain physical characteristics are required. Asymmetrical wings, found on all flying birds with the exception of hummingbirds, help in the production of thrust and lift. Anything that moves through the air produces drag due to friction. The aerodynamic body of a bird can reduce drag, but when stopping or slowing down a bird will use its tail and feet to increase drag. Weight is the largest obstacle birds must overcome in order to fly. An animal can more easily attain flight by reducing its absolute weight. Birds evolved from other theropod dinosaurs that had already gone through a phase of size reduction during the Middle Jurassic, combined with rapid evolutionary changes. Flying birds during their evolution further reduced relative weight through several characteristics such as the loss of teeth, gonadal hypertrophy, and fusion of bones. Teeth were replaced by a lightweight bill made of keratin, and chewing moved to the bird's gizzard. Other advanced physical characteristics evolved for flight are a keel for the attachment of flight muscles and an enlarged cerebellum for fine motor coordination. These were gradual changes, though, and not strict conditions for flight: the first birds had teeth, at best a small keel and relatively unfused bones. Pneumatic bone, that is hollow or filled with air sacs, has often been seen as an adaptation reducing weight, but it was already present in non-flying dinosaurs, and birds on average do not have a lighter skeleton than mammals of the same size. The same is true for the furcula, a bone which enhances skeletal bracing for the stresses of flight.
The smallest family members are the closely related short-tailed pygmy tyrant and black-capped pygmy tyrant from the genus "Myiornis" (the first species usually being considered marginally smaller on average). These species reach a total length of and a weight of 4–5 grams. By length, they are the smallest passerines on earth, although some species of Old World warblers apparently rival them in their minuscule mean body masses if not in total length. The minuscule size and very short tail of the "Myiornis" pygmy tyrants often lend them a resemblance to a tiny ball or insect. The largest tyrant flycatcher is the great shrike-tyrant at and . A few species such as the streamer-tailed tyrant, scissor-tailed flycatcher and fork-tailed flycatcher have a larger total length (up to ), but this is mainly due to their extremely long tails; the fork-tailed flycatcher has relatively the longest tail feathers of any known bird.
The little flying squid is said to be dwarf species of flying squid compared to the other species of "Todarodes", the largest female recorded to date had a mantle length of 74mm and the largest male measured 68mm mantle. The maximum mantle length is not thought to exceed 100mm, compared to 500mm for the Japanese flying squid. It also has relatively small fins which only have a length equivalent to 25 to 31% of the mantle length (35-40% in the Japanese flying squid). It has a cylindrical, muscular body, typical of related species, which tapers to a short, pointed tail.
The Virginia rail probe with its bill in mud or shallow water, also picking up food by sight. It mainly eat insects and other aquatic invertebrates, like beetles, flies, dragonflies, crayfish, snails and earthworms. It can also eat aquatic animals like frogs, fish and some small snakes, as well as seeds. Animal preys constitute the biggest part of this bird's diet, but vegetation contributes to its diet in the fall and winter.
With over 100 species of birds from all around the world, walk in Aviary is also home to a variety of free flying birds. The Birds Photo Corner in the aviary lets visitors take souvenir photos with a variety of macaws and cockatoos on weekends.
These indoor exhibits are home to fruit bats, the largest bat in the world, which are sometimes called flying foxes, as well as mousedeer and a Malayan tapir.
The forests are home to a number of endemic species including two flightless birds that no longer survive in the lowland areas of the island, these are the western weka and the largest kiwi, the great spotted kiwi. The varied habitats in the region support a mixture of other birds found here include the kea, the New Zealand kaka parrot" (Nestor meridionalis)", the New Zealand pigeon or kereru "(Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae)" and the New Zealand falcon or karearea "(Falco novaeseelandiae)". Farewell Spit in particular is an important site for wading birds and is on a migration route. 
The area is also rich in invertebrates including almost half of the known species of amber snails "(Powelliphanta)".
Pteranodon (; from Greek πτερόν ( pteron, "wing") and ἀνόδων (anodon, "toothless") is a genus of pterosaur that included some of the largest known flying reptiles, with wingspans over 8 meters (26 feet). They lived during the late Cretaceous geological period of North America in present-day Kansas, Alabama, Nebraska, Wyoming, and South Dakota. More fossil specimens of "Pteranodon" have been found than any other pterosaur, with about 1,200 specimens known to science, many of them well preserved with nearly complete skulls and articulated skeletons. It was an important part of the animal community in the Western Interior Seaway.
There are over 100 species of birds, of which ten are endemic. Many birds are passing vagrants, such as the great cormorant ("Phalacrocorax carbo"). Others, like the lesser frigatebird ("Fregata ariel"), are more regular visitors. Bird populations are threatened due to the invasive yellow crazy ant, and reports have suggested that the ant has attacked hatchlings and harassed adults in their nests. All endemic bird species have been placed on the critically endangered list.
Gravity is the primary obstacle to flight. Because it is impossible for any organism to have a density as low as that of air, flying animals must generate enough lift to ascend and remain airborne. One way to achieve this is with wings, which when moved through the air generate an upward lift force on the animal's body. Flying animals must be very light to achieve flight, the largest living flying animals being birds of around 20 kilograms. Other structural adaptations of flying animals include reduced and redistributed body weight, fusiform shape and powerful flight muscles; there may also be physiological adaptations. Active flight has independently evolved at least four times, in the insects, pterosaurs, birds, and bats. Insects were the first taxon to evolve flight, approximately 400 million years ago (mya), followed by pterosaurs approximately 220 mya, birds approximately 160 mya, then bats about 60 mya.
While comparing between various classes of animals, a different unit is used, body length per second for organisms. The fastest organism on earth, relative to body length, is the South Californian mite "Paratarsotomus macropalpis", which has a speed of 322 body lengths per second. The equivalent speed for a human running as fast as this mite would be . This is far in excess of the previous record holder, the Australian tiger beetle, "Cicindela eburneola", the fastest insect in the world relative to body size, which has been recorded at or 171 body lengths per second. The cheetah, the fastest land mammal, scores at only 16 body lengths per second while Anna's hummingbird has the highest known length-specific velocity attained by any vertebrate
Some species, such as deer flies and the Australian March flies, are known for being extremely noisy during flight, though clegs, for example, fly quietly and bite with little warning. Tabanids are agile fliers; "Hybomitra" species have been observed to perform aerial manoeuvres similar to those performed by fighter jets, such as the Immelmann turn. Horseflies can lay claim to being the fastest flying insects; the male "Hybomitra hinei wrighti" has been recorded reaching speeds of up to per hour when pursuing a female.
Some semi-aquatic birds use terrestrial locomotion, surface swimming, underwater swimming and flying (e.g., ducks, swans). Diving birds also use diving locomotion (e.g., dippers, aulks). Some birds (e.g., ratites) have lost the primary locomotion of flight. The largest of these, ostriches, when being pursued by a predator, have been known to reach speeds over , and can maintain a steady speed of , which makes the ostrich the world's fastest two-legged animal: Ostriches can also locomote by swimming. Penguins either waddle on their feet or slide on their bellies across the snow, a movement called "tobogganing", which conserves energy while moving quickly. They also jump with both feet together if they want to move more quickly or cross steep or rocky terrain. To get onto land, penguins sometimes propel themselves upwards at a great speed to leap out the water.