The spectacle of a cheetah running at full speed is art; the anatomy and physique facilitating its speed and agility is genetic engineering at its best. The cheetah can accelerate from 0 — 60 mph in 3 seconds, making it the fastest land animal on the planet.
Yes, even faster than Usain Bolt. Like Bolt, the cheetah is a sprinter — not a long distance runner — and can only attain high speeds in short bursts due to the tremendous drain on its energy resources. It could take up to 30 minutes for a cheetah to recover from a chase.
So just how can this big cat accelerate faster than a Ferrari? On the exterior, the cheetah is the most slender of the big cats; its lightweight body weighing about lbs. Animals This frog mysteriously re-evolved a full set of teeth. Animals Wild Cities Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London.
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History Magazine These 3,year-old giants watched over the cemeteries of Sardinia. Science Coronavirus Coverage What families can do now that kids are getting the vaccine. By: Julia Layton. A Corvette Twin Turbo accelerates at about 7. A Ferrari Enzo boasts about 8. A cheetah picks up speed faster than both of those cars. Its specialized body accelerates at 10 meters per second and gets up to 40 mph 64 kph in three strides [source: Cheetah Conservation ].
Big Cat Image Gallery. The cheetah is the fastest land animal, achieving a top speed of about 70 mph kph [sources: Blue Lion , Defenders of Wildlife ]. This incredible speed comes with a price, though -- a cheetah is a rather puny large cat.
It looks a lot like a leopard , but you can tell a cheetah by the bilateral, teardrop-shaped stripes running from either side of its nose to its eyes. It's small and lightweight, usually less than 3 feet 1 meter tall and about 4 feet 1. More than half of that length is the tail, which is crucial to maintaining control during a 70 mph chase.
The very adaptations that make it the fastest cat alive also make it highly susceptible to extinction , as we'll see on the next page. On the open savannas of Iran and parts of Africa, cheetahs are amazing examples of specialization -- the evolutionary adaptation to very specific environmental conditions. In this case, the specialization is for speed. Going after impalas , gazelles and small wildebeests , the cheetah is a blur, and the chase is short-lived, typically lasting about 30 seconds.
Cheetah moms spend a lot of time teaching their cubs to chase, sometimes dragging live animals back to the den so the cubs can practice the chase-and-catch process.
When a cheetah overtakes its prey, it knocks it down and takes it out with a bite to the neck. It then eats as quickly as possible. In intense heat, she will tire quickly. This is why she prefers to hunt at dusk and dawn. A cheetah can reach a top speed of around 70 miles per hour in about 4 seconds. The ease with which she achieves this speed depends entirely on her health, the terrain on which she's running and her energy levels.
San Diego Zoo has a cheetah run that is feet long. The zoo claims this is the perfect distance for the cheetah to hit top speed.
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