Hunting cheetahs fast off the mark

THE secret to the cheetah's hunting success isn't its record-breaking speed, but how fast it can accelerate and manoeuvre, new research has found.

SAFRICA-WILDLIFE-CONSERVATION-CHEETAH-FILES

THE secret to the cheetah's hunting success isn't its record-breaking speed, but rather how fast it can accelerate and manoeuvre, new research has found.

Cheetahs, when they accelerate, have four times the "muscle power output'' of Usain Bolt during his world-record-breaking 100 metre sprint, according to Alan Wilson from Britain's Royal Veterinary College.

The research involved fitting five cheetahs in the wild with collars which tracked precisely their location and acceleration during 367 runs.

They found the cats - the fastest animal on land - almost never reach their top speed of 104kmh during chases, and had an average chase speed of just 50kmh.

Instead, the researchers said cheetahs used their amazing acceleration - being able to speed up by up to 10kmh with every stride - and their ability to change direction very rapidly, to hunt successfully.

The researchers recorded acceleration and turning speeds that match or exceed those known in any land mammal.