The fastest land animal in the world, the cheetah is a warm-blooded mammal which is capable of reaching speeds as high as 70 miles per hour.
Their acceleration is s fast that even the best supercars in the world would be put to shame with their ability to reach 60 miles per hour in a matter of just 3 seconds.
Cheetahs belong to the family of the domestic cat but are distant relatives.
These are huge cats that have a nimble body structure that is streamlined for high speeds and provides them the ability to make quick turns so that they can easily catch their prey.
While cheetahs are capable of hitting very high speeds, they are usually going to find themselves chasing their prey at half the top speed because there aren’t any other animals that can match their speeds.
Cheetahs do not just rely on their high speeds while they hunt for food. They have excellent eyesight which allows them to spot their favorite preys the hare and the antelopes from a fair bit of a distance away. This daylight hunter makes it a point to close in on their prey as much as they can with their stealthy movements. Their fur coats are spotted that help them blend into the environment as they slowly creep towards the prey.
They wait for that perfect moment until they spring into action and sprint after the prey. They knock it down, make their prey lose their balance, and then kill them. They rarely eat their downed prey right away. Cheetahs usually drag their prey to hiding places where they can keep them safe from animals that would steal their kill before they can eat.
Their ability to reach high speeds also means they have a high metabolism rate. They need to drink lots of water because of their bodies extensively heating up after every chase. Cheetahs are able to give a good chase of around a minute but they cannot maintain their high speeds for very long.
Their bodies start to heat up so much that they need to stop giving the chase if an animal is able to evade them for over a minute but that rarely ever happens. Found typically in the southwestern and eastern regions of Africa, the population of cheetah are a bit vulnerable due to their grasslands disappearing because of human encroachment.
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