The Bird That Survives 240 Mile Per Hour Winds

If you stuck your head out of a car window at 240 miles per hour, your lungs would likely collapse from the sheer force of the air pressure. Yet, the Peregrine Falcon hits these speeds habitually while hunting. It moves so fast that it has to use specialized bony tubercles in its nostrils to act as baffles, slowing the incoming wind so the bird can breathe without popping its internal organs.

When this bird hits a pigeon, it doesn't usually grab it. Instead, it clenches its talons into a fist and punches the prey out of the sky. The impact is often enough to instantly decapitate the target or break its wings before the falcon circles back to catch the falling body.

To see what they are doing at these speeds, their eyes are equipped with a second set of eyelids that are completely transparent. These work like goggles, allowing the falcon to keep its eyes open and focused while debris and air blast past at speeds that would blind any other animal.

Humans trying to recreate this dive have to wear pressurized suits and oxygen masks. The falcon does it with a heart that beats up to 900 times per minute, pumping blood fast enough to prevent its brain from blacking out during the intense G-forces of a pull-up.

Curiously, even at these lethal speeds, the falcon's biggest danger isn't the ground, but its own feathers. If a single feather is out of place, the resulting drag could cause the bird to spin out of control and disintegrate mid-air.