Animal Record Breakers

Welcome to Room 4 of the museum. On this wall there are six cards, and each one shows a winner from the animal world. Some winners are fast and some are very slow. Read them in order, because the last card is the strangest.

Card 1: The Fastest. The cheetah is the fastest animal on land. It can run at more than 100 kilometers an hour, faster than a car in the city. But it can only keep that speed for a short distance, so it hunts close to its food.

Card 2: The Slowest. The three-toed sloth is one of the slowest mammals in the world. It lives in the trees of Central and South America. On some days it moves less than 40 meters. Tiny green plants called algae even live in its fur.

Card 3: The Loudest. The loudest animal is the sperm whale. It makes clicks in the ocean, and the clicks can be louder than 230 decibels under the water. It uses them to find food in the dark.

Card 4: The Oldest. Greenland sharks swim slowly in very cold water. Scientists studied many of these sharks. They think one large female was almost 400 years old. Even the youngest guess was about 270 years.

Card 5: The Biggest. The blue whale is the largest animal that has ever lived. It can be about 30 meters long. It is bigger and heavier than any dinosaur.

Card 6: The Toughest? This card has a smaller winner. A cockroach can live for a week or more without its head. It breathes through tiny holes in its body, so it doesn't need a nose or a mouth for air. In the end it dies because it can't drink water. Next to this card there is a small sign: "Please don't try this at home."