How Fast Is Fast?: teacher key

Peregrine Falcons, grade 8 edition, written for 8th grade. Sources give different speeds for a diving peregrine falcon, and each says something different about how the number was found. See what they claim and what else is known.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What does Guinness say the 320 km/h figure is?
   • A camera reading
   • An estimate, not a clocked speed (answer)
   • A flight record in a race
2. How many peregrines were tracked by satellite in the migration study?
   • 6
   • 610
   • 61 (answer)
3. Which subspecies is a year-round resident of the northwest Pacific coast?
   • Peale's falcon (answer)
   • The Arctic peregrine
   • The American peregrine
4. Why does a taller start help a falcon catch prey?
   • It hides in clouds
   • More height gives a better stoop (answer)
   • The wind stops
5. What does estimate mean in the Guinness claim?
   • A measured fact
   • A record
   • A careful guess, not a clocked speed (answer)

Words

• stoop: falcon's dive
• subspecies: regional variant
• estimate: careful guess
• tundra: treeless Arctic
• terminal: final