The Fastest and Strongest Animal on Earth: The Tiny Copepod

Scientists have discovered that a tiny crustacean called the copepod is stronger and faster in relation to its size than any other animal.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on May 19 2010

Wikipedia Creative Commons image

When you think of the world’s fastest and strongest animals, you probably imagine big predators like cheetahs and grizzly bears, right? Most likely, the true title-holder for both speed and strength will come as a surprise, then: it’s a tiny crustacean smaller than your fingernail, known as the copepod.

The copepod is only about one millimeter long, and has a teardrop-shaped, transparent body with two sets of antennae. The creatures are completely blind, so they rely on sensory input to find food or slip away from predators—which they can do faster than any other creature on Earth.

“They jump at a rate of half a metre per second, and that’s within a few thousandths of a second,” says Thomas Kiørboe, a researcher from the National Institute of Aquatic Resources at the Technical University of Denmark, who’s been studying videos of the small crustaceans and is astonished by his findings. “It shows that copepods - in relation to their size - are more than 10 times as strong as has been previously documented for any other animal or even man-made motors.”

The copepod’s amazing strength and speed comes from its strange form: vibrating limbs that aid it in feeding, while simultaneously letting it swim without pausing. It also has another movement system as a fall-back: 4 or 5 sets of legs which can be used for swimming or jumping, which can come in handy for a speedy escape if a predator is nearby.

Copepods can be found in both oceans and freshwater. But chances are, you’ll never stand a chance at catching one.

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