A speedy tortoise, fluffy rabbit and ball-catching dog are some of the creatures who have made their way into the record books.

They feature in the Guinness World Records 2016 edition alongside some humans who make the cut thanks to their natural gifts.

Bertie, a South African leopard tortoise, has raced his way into the records book by travelling 0.28 metres per second – the greatest speed achieved by one of his kind – smashing the previous record that stood since 1977.

The feat was achieved at Adventure Valley in Brasside, Durham, in July last year, and is twice as fast as the average tortoise. At his current speed, Bertie could lock 100m in six minutes.

His owner, Marco Calzini, said: “Bertie now lives in a luxury enclosure with his girlfriend Shelly and his Guinness World Records certificate proudly displayed on the wall. To be in the book is a dream come true, a massive achievement!”

While another record-breaking sprinter – Usain Bolt – may enjoy tucking into chicken nuggets before a big race, Bertie simply needs his favourite snack of strawberries.

Other animal feats include the longest fur on a rabbit, which has been measured as 36.5cm and belongs to two-year-old English Angora rabbit Franchesca from California.

Purin, the nine-year-old Beagle from Chiba, Japan, has broken her own previous record of 11, taking the number of balls caught by a dog with paws in one minute up to 14.

But it is not only animals who have been recognised.

Venezuelan Jeison Orlando Rodriguez Hernandez, 20, has been recognised for having the largest feet on a living person – at a size 26, they measure in at 40.1cm, for the right foot, and 39.6cm for the left.

While a Chinese married couple have been crowned the world's tallest, with a combined height of 423.47cm.

Sun Mingming, 33, is 2.36m tall, while his wife, Xu Yan, 29, is 1.87m.

Speaking ahead of the Guinness World Records 2016 release, its editor-in-chief, Craig Glenday, said: “By providing a mix of the newest, most amazing records and a splash of the classic titles that readers know and love, the 2016 edition is a great cross-section of humanity's greatest accomplishments.”

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.