Humans have a fascination with out-of-the-ordinary feats — an obsession with the biggest, best and, sometimes, weirdest things out there.
It’s why the tallest buildings in the world become tourist attractions, the fastest roller coasters just have to be ridden and even the largest pumpkins turn into perfect photo ops.
Because of that obsession for finding the “ist” and the “est” in the world, even pets have been brought into the mix. The following 8 pets all have amazing accomplishments, which has given each of them a coveted Guinness World Record title.
1. Most Balls Caught
Purin, a beagle from Japan, holds the world record for most balls caught by her paws in a minute — 14 in total.
Purin wasn’t trained to catch balls. It simply came naturally to her. When her human, Makoto, realized her talent, he started playing fetch a little differently than most.
Purin now likes to spend time catching mini soccer balls in front of a goal, making her one of the best dog goalkeepers out there.
This dog’s paw-eye coordination is incredible:
2. Longest Globe Walk
Purin the beagle (see above) at one time held the record for fastest 10 meters walking on a ball. But then Sailor came on the scene.
Sailor and his trainer, Alex, decided “sit” and “stay” just didn’t cut it. Instead, they opted to take their skill game up a notch.
Now, not only does Sailor know how to jump through hoops, walk up stairs on 2 legs and complete agility courses like a pro, but also he walks on “globes.”
If you never knew there was a title for the fastest time walking 10 meters on a globe (in this case, a large exercise ball) by a dog, prepare to be amazed.
Sailor can walk backwards on the ball for 10 meters in 33.22 seconds. Now that’s a feat — for humans and dogs.
Wow — there are no words for how amazing this is:
3. Most Tricks in 1 Minute
Didga the cat isn’t your normal feline. Not only can she sit, lie and stay, but also she can ride a skateboard. On an extraordinary day in February 2016, Didga and her human, Robert, made history.
Didga made her way through a 1-minute routine that consisted of 24 different tricks. The finale? Jumping from Robert’s knee to a skateboard and then hopping over a horizontal pole while riding the skateboard.
This one you have to see to believe:
4. Loudest Purr
Cats, of course, are multitalented. Take Merlin, for instance. This domesticated cat from the United Kingdom holds the record for loudest purr.
In fact, the decibel volume at which she purrs (67.8) compares to the sound of a vacuum cleaner, which comes in at 70 decibels, just slightly louder than Merlin.
Clearly, she has a bit of jungle cat in her. Or perhaps a slight Napoleon complex?
Listen to Merlin’s wall-shaking purr:
5. Fastest Tortoise
Bertie the tortoise wasn’t always a pet celebrity. In fact, up until an unusual amount of people started commenting on her speed, she spent most of her days lounging with her tortoise boyfriend at home.
When people started to take notice of her non-tortoise-like mobility, her humans from Brasside in the UK decided to test her speeds. Sure enough, Bertie was faster than other tortoises — all of them.
She now holds the Guinness World Record for traveling at a speed of .92 feet per second.
Don’t blink, or else you’ll miss this speedy tortoise:
6. Most Rings on a Target
Skipper Blue, a macaw from Los Angeles, holds the world record for placing the most rings on a target, by a parrot, in 1 minute.
In November 2016, this bird went to town stacking rings on a small pole as her human proudly assisted (by placing the rings next to Skipper Blue).
Within that minute, Skipper Blue was able to stack 19 rings on her target.
Look at Skipper go!:
7. 100 Balloons Popped
Toby the whippet has gone down in history for holding the fastest time to pop 100 balloons (by a dog).
Still agile at 9 years old, Toby, accompanied by his human, Christie, showed off his unique talent to a small crowd. With the balloons attached to the floor in a small, contained space, he quickly popped them in a true frenzy.
His new record? 36.53 seconds.
If this video isn’t entertaining, I don’t know what is:
8. Longest SUP
Bono and his human, Ivan, hold the record for the longest stand up paddle board (SUP) ride on a river.
The pair amazingly rode over a mile (1.05, to be exact) down Mearim River in Arari, Brazil, to capture the world record.
Bono and Ivan have been stand up paddle boarding since 2012 but made their record official in March 2016.
This looks oddly relaxing, right?:
Sigh. Aren’t animals just amazing?
