QUINN MINUTE: The world’s greatest athlete?

by Rix Quinn

At lunch, several of us guys got to talking about who is the best athlete, human or animal.

Surprisingly, the world’s greatest may be the spittle bug, who’s jumpier than a pickpocket at a police station.

The adult spittle measures only one-fourth inch long. But this guy possesses remarkable leg strength, and if you loaned him a toothpick he could probably pole vault.

This powerful dude can leap two feet. No, not jump over my shoes, but actually bound 24 inches, or 96 TIMES its size!

That’s like a six-foot man clearing a 48-story building. I never saw anybody do this, but one time my friend Tom jumped to the wrong conclusion, and his girlfriend told him to take a flying leap.

Actually, the animal kingdom is filled with great athletes. A cheetah can run nearly 70 mph. A millepede can walk on 1,000 legs without stepping on anyone’s toes.

And the ant can lift 50 times its weight, much more than its insect counterpart, the uncle.

When it comes to endurance, few can top those amazing birds, the arctic terns. In the course of a year, some migrate up to 22,000 miles.

But one flock member misjudged his altitude, collided with a dizzy eagle, and landed on a sheep.

That’s how he became the first “ill eagle ewe tern.”