It takes a car driver about 650 milliseconds to hit the brake after seeing the traffic light ahead turn red. The star-nosed mole, operating in the Stygian darkness of its burrow, can detect the presence of a tasty tidbit, such as an insect larva or tiny worm, determine that it is edible and gulp it down in half that time.
"Most predators take times ranging from minutes to seconds to handle their prey," says Kenneth C. Catania, assistant professor of biological sciences at Vanderbilt, who conducted the study. "The only things I've found that come even close are some species of fish," he says.
This odd looking creature is so fast that scientists are studying it to learn what the limits are on physical/brain responses.
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