Cheetahs are, without doubt, the fastest creatures in the world. The only animal that follows the Cheetah's spectacular speed is its favorite prey, the gazelle. In order to catch a meal that is fast as the wind, this animal had to develop the ability to run so fast, even faster than the gazelle, or even to choose another alternative - starvation. This is a quite strong motivation for practicing their wind sprints. These amazing cats can run up to 112kph. In 2009, a female cheetah in captivity became the fastest land mammals in the whole world. Her name is Sarah, and she covered 100 meters distance in a record time of 6.13 seconds.
The cheetah can be found mostly in East Africa. They're also found in some places in the Middle East, in Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan. Cheetahs are the perfect example of the effects of natural selection for creating a super fast, aerodynamic hunting cat. There are many species of big cats in the world, for example leopards, lions, jaguars, mountain lions, ocelots, and tigers, but none of them can reach the speed of the cheetah. The natural selection perfectly works on those animals that have the best physical ability, body design, and behaviors to adapt easily to their environment and survive there, while other animals who do not feature these qualities will not survive to pass on their genes to another generation. In this world there are many other large wild cats who look and behave very differently from the cheetah, but adapted to live and survive in their own environments in other ways. The head of cheetahs is small in proportion to its body and the long and strong tail helps the cheetahs to maintain balance when they try to change the direction at extremely high speeds.
A perfect characteristic for this animal are the dark lines that look like "tears", supposed to absorb glaring sunlight for a better vision during the day.
Cheetah-greatest fast runner
Although the Cheetah is the greatest fast runner and the high speed allows the cat to overtake its prey within short distance. The cheetahs are hiding firstly then use the element of surprise to get close enough to the gazelle before giving chase. The best sense of the cheetah is its sight, and thanks to it cheetah can detect a gazelle runing in the grass from a distance of over 500 meters. Cheetahs feature shorter upper canine teeth, which permit a perfect ventilation of the huge lungs after the race and even when suffocating the victim. We need to mention that cheetah has huge lungs and heart.
Females with cubs hunt all day long, but the lonely adults just once at 2-3 days. About half of their attacks on the prey are a failure. A cheetah can eat up to 14 kg of meat once.
Its spine is extremely elastic, working like a spring. Compared with the limbs of other cats, the limbs the cheetah are very long and thin, perfect for running, including lax articulations to the body allowing to animals to make large steps. The skeleton of a cheetah is also very light. The elastic spine and the long legs permit to practice successive jumps of about 7 m in length each and in 2 seconds a cheetah has already reached 75 km per hour and in 3 seconds even 110 km.
The cheetah is very slick and can select an animal isolated from the herd and usually hunts the prey in the first 500-600 m. The female insists more on chasing the prey. But in case the prey gets an advantage of 20 seconds, the cheetah gives up on hunting. After that race the cheetah is totally exhausted and needs half an hour to recover. These beautiful and fast animals are very famous for their dexterity and for their unique abilities. The tourists are amazed by this animal, and the admiration for it grows when they get to see it in real life. The cheetahs are splendid when they run and catch the prey, and you are waiting in silence for the culmination of the race. It is truly fantastic to stay and admire these amazing animals, who seem to be the fastest in the world.
By Eugenia Cvasov
The Fastest Animals in the World .
If something moves, someone else wants to know how fast it moves and the speed that is registered. We cannot deny - the need for speed is in our blood.
To be fast in the animal kingdom is a very important factor when it comes to surviving. To have a fast pair of legs can save the animals life and help catch up their food. This case is valid in the human world also, not only in the animal kingdom. The animals can move in a different way, but they all fight for one thing, just to stay alive. Several animals can run extremely fast and keep peace in their natural environment. These are really unique animals that enchant our eyes with spectacular races and fights. Take a deep look how far some creatures have to be in order to get away. For true lovers of animals we will recommend a list of the fastest animals in the world with a lot of useful and interesting information.