In the record-keeping annals of life on Earth, make way for the great snipe — a small, stocky shorebird that takes the fastest long-distance, nonstop flights of any animal that’s not in an airplane.

During its annual migration, a single snipe may fly for 96 consecutive hours, covering more than 4,000 miles. That’s four days without stopping or sleeping, sometimes at average speeds of 50 miles per hour.

“We know of no other animal that travels this rapidly over such a long distance,” wrote researchers led by biologist Raymond Klaasen of Sweden’s Lund University in a May 25 Biology Letters study.

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