The cheetah or Acinonyx jubatus is the fastest land animal if we look at top speed and discounting the peregrine falcon when it dives.
It reaches speeds of 100-115 km/h and is capable of maintaining them for a short run, of about 400 to 500 metres, during which it hunts down its prey. But there is something even more important than the maximum speed in the case of the cheetah, and that is its acceleration. How do cheetahs manage to exceed 100 km/h in just 3 seconds?
Discover this and much more in this article on our site about how fast a cheetah can go.
Different from other felines
When we analyze the differences between the cheetah and the leopard, checking their morphological differences, it is understood that the cheetah is perfectly adapted for running, on floors that could be slippery and that, in addition to having a more aerodynamic body than other cats, has the ability not to lose acceleration with changes of direction. This is due to their nails, which are not retractable, very solid and not as sharp as in the rest of the felines (except for an internal claw on the hind legs).
The cheetah's claws dig into the ground during sudden changes in direction and give the cheetah the ability to also be the fastest accelerating and decelerating land animal.
With all of this, on many occasions a cheetah does not need to reach its maximum speed to catch prey, but can achieve speeds of about 60 km/h, bearing in mind that a stride is capable of increasing its speed by 10 km/h and that the power during acceleration of a cheetah can reach 120 watts per kg, just twice that of a greyhound As Curious, Usain Bolt's power record is 25 watts per kg.
Amazing even to zoologists
The scientific community did not notice the incredible power and acceleration values of the cheetah until 2013, although the particular characteristics of cheetah claws had been studied in the 1970s.
These values, together with the ability to zigzag, accelerating or decelerating at convenience, show us the cheetah as an even more amazing animal, if possible, and intelligent, since it adapts to the running characteristics of its prey trying to spend the minimum possible energy.
We must not lose sight of the fact that the cheetah's hunting system requires a large energy consumption for each attempt and that it does not have the power to bring down its lion, tiger or other prey. of the leopard. You must attack when you have a high chance of success
Shortly before this discovery, another research team had already noticed that the distribution of the different types of muscle fibers in the cheetah differs both from that of other felines and from the distribution of canids.
