The Common Swift has officially lost its crown as the fastest-flying animal in the sky. So who took the title? The Peregrine Falcon? A frigatebird? Perhaps the Grey-headed Albatross? None of the above. The answer might surprise you, because according to the latest research, the fastest flier in the animal kingdom isn't a bird at all. It's a bat. But first, some background: The Peregrine Falcon is indisputably the fastest animal in the sky. It has been measured at speeds above 83.3 m/s (186 mph), but only when stooping, or diving. So for many years, it was commonly held by scientists that the fastest-flying bird in level flight was the White-throated Needletail (formerly known as the Spine-tailed Swift), which could supposedly reach speeds of up to 47m/s (105 mph). That number, however, had never been scientifically proven. It turns out that measuring the speed of animals in flight is actually fairly difficult, and it wasn’t until 2009 that a research...