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Animal Kingdom Awesomeness Featured Video Clips

Falcon-mounted Camera Captures Stunning Kill

You may recall how dashcams give us with a look at life in Russia. Cameras mounted onto animals provide an equally interesting view, and in this case we see it from the perspective of a Peale’s Peregrine Falcon named Dora.

Peregrine falcons are known to be the fastest animal in the kingdom, often reaching speeds in the excess of 300 km/h during their hunting dives. A camera mounted on the back of Dora captures such a high speed take down. In the beginning Dora calmly takes to the skies and explores the surroundings, but around the 2:45 mark there is an incredible burst of speed as Dora spots and makes contact with a duck. Check out the striking video below.

[via Kottke]

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Animal Kingdom Arty Awesomeness Entertainment Featured Video Clips

Cheetahs Finish First

We’ve seen Phantom cameras being put to good use before. Tom Guilmette was stuck in a hotel room with one, while Ty Migota had fun with cocktails, and Zach King broke up a tea party. And Gallagher, well, he’s just Gallagher.

This time, National Geographic in collaboration with the Cincinnati Zoo used the pricey Phantom gear to shoot one of nature’s fastest creatures. In full stride, the cheetah can reach speeds up to 120 km/h, and the team used the high-speed camera to capture the animal’s gait at 1,200 frames per second. Expectedly, the results are stunning. Have a look at Cheetahs on the Edge below.

[via io9]

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Animal Kingdom Science & Technology Video Clips

The Fastest Living Thing on the Planet?

In an episode of “Richard Hammond’s Invisible Worlds”, Richard Hammond travels to the English countryside in search of the fastest living thing on the planet. Would it surprise you to know that it lives in piles of horse poop? Be disgusted and/or amazed below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3xXLxIbiXw

If you had some concerns about Hammond’s confusion of speed and acceleration, you may want to read Rhett Allain’s article on Wired, where he uses maths to question Hammond’s claims.

[via The Presurfer]