Pronghorn antelopes are the fastest animal in the world.
I know what you’re thinking, cheetahs are faster. Not really.
What is Fastest?
Well speed is a distance travelled per time. Miles per hour. Meters per second.
But of course this is an instantaneous measure. If we’re running a race, the winner has the highest average speed over the entire course. If the path is short then instantaneous speed is likely fastest. But once you have to journey somewhere, and the winner is judged over an actual course through time, fastest is more complicated than top speed.
Think of the tortoise and the hare. If you stop and rest, you probably won’t win the race.
The Cheetah
A cheetah is fast, but only for a quick burst. It can reach 70 mph, but only maintains those speeds for about 30 seconds. It’s top speed is impressive, but it can’t really go that far. After a half of a mile it has to take a break and rest for 30 minutes. It doesn’t have any stamina.
Even still, the burst it creates is extremely alluring. Just look at this speed.
The cheetahs are the rockstars of the animal speed kingdom. Everyone knows about them. We all learn about them in school. They are prominently in zoos. Nature shows celebrate them. They get all the attention because there’s nothing quite like them in the world.
Except there is another animal that is even more impressive.
The Pronghorn
The pronghorn is nearly as fast as a cheetah, capable of reaching 60+ miles per hour. It has the second fastest top speed in the world. But unlike the cheetah it doesn’t get tired in 30 seconds. It’s said it can run at 45 mph for 30 minutes, and finish a marathon in 45 minutes.
Speed and stamina.
I wish I shot this
We are so fascinated by the instantaneous burst of the cheetah that we overlook the far superior overall speed of the pronghorn. There truly is nothing like them in the animal kingdom.
Investing Cheetahs
Investing is full of cheetah rockstars too. Companies, investors, funds, and CEOs which dominate our attention with flashy eye popping returns. Huge bursts of wealth that look so spectacular on charts going up, up, and up. They dominate CNBC and social media. Its easy to imagine how awesome it would be to ride those explosive investment rocket ships.
Rocket ships run out of fuel just as cheetahs get tired quickly and stop.
Eyepopping yearly returns are extremely enticing and rarely sustainable. The run of a cheetah is exhilarating, but short.
Do you really want to invest like a cheetah?
Investing Pronghorns
Investing Pronghorns don’t stop and rest. True they likely won’t provide 70% annual return, but they can provide substantial returns year after year after year with only few lulls to regroup. They are built for both high speeds, and sustained speed.
This means that over the full race, they’re uncatchable.
They are the “fastest” investors in the world.
Wouldn’t you rather invest like a Pronghorn?
Why Are Pronghorns So Fast
Pronghorn antelopes live in the great plains and westerns areas of North America, and there is nothing even close to thier speed or stamina threatening them today. So how did they get so fast?
Well, North America used to have cheetahs. The North American cheetah had quick bursts just like modern cheetahs. So the pronghorn needed to be quick to outrun the cheetah to survive.
North America also used to have dire wolves. No, not the wolves from Game of Thrones, but the real thing. Large wolves that could run for miles and miles. Therefore pronghorns also needed an enormous amount of stamina.1
Pronghorns needed to develop both extreme quickness and extreme stamina. That is why it is impossible for other animals to kill it today.2
Survival Through the Ages
The cheetahs, dire wolves and long legged bears all went extinct. They couldn’t survive the repetitions of time. Similarly lots of investing cheetahs haven’t survived the repetitions of the market.
But the pronghorn survives as one of the oldest animals in North America. They are built for the long haul. Investing Pronghorns are also built for the long journey.
“Fastest” is always a function of time, even when time runs through generations, and there’s nothing faster than a pronghorn.
So do you want to invest for quick bursts today like a cheetah, or do you dream of investing like a Pronghorn, positioning your wealth at the head of the herd, running clear of chasing bears year after year after year?
Footnotes:
1-North America also used to have long legged bears. It’s important to outrun the bears.
2-I think this is why it’s not as popular and animal. We love the violence, and with the pronghorn, there just isn’t any. There isn’t even a chase.
3-Here is another video about pronghorn in the west today.
That’s a very interesting take, it is similar to the concept that humans can run down any animal on earth because humans can run continuously for more than 24 hours and even the pronghorn cannot do that. But I’m not really sure a ultra marathoner could really run down an antelope. But not me, my fastest marathon was three hours slower than the pronghorn’s. Wow, 45 minutes, that’s impressive.
Yeah we would loose sight of it too fairly quickly which wouldn’t help. I though I read somewhere once they could travel 100+ miles in a day sometimes, but couldn’t find the reference again for this post, so I may have dreamed that up.
Does it have to do with the fact that speed is enough for the predator when it goes for the kill whereas speed and stamina is needed just to survive when you are the prey.
I’m not a biologist, but not necessarily. Wolves have great stamina, and can run for a very long time. They often try and tire thier prey out rather than catch it quickly.