Re: Why are cheetahs so much faster than other cats ?

Hello Patrick - thanks for the question. I hope I can answer it well enough to satisfy your curiosity. When I read your question, I realized that there are two ways to ask it:

  
	A)  Why are cheetahs so much FASTER than the other cats?
  	B)  WHY are cheetahs so much faster than the other cats?

Answer to Question A:

Cheetahs are simply built different than the other cats. There are three things about their bodies that give them such a speed advantage. First and foremost is their spinal column is extremely flexible or "supple" - much more so than the other cats, or most any other mammals for that matter. The second and third things are the lenghths of their bodies and legs - they are quite long for an animal of that size.

These three things combine to allow the cheetah to have an enormous STRIDE. Watch a cheetah run in slow motion (if you can find a video clip): each stride starts out with the hind feet a good distance in front of the head, the backbone bent almost double, and the front legs streched out behind the animal. The stride ends with the back feet streched straight back and the front feet streched out straight in front of the nose. Now, there is no fundamental difference in the mechanics of the stride between cats, but since cheetahs have the three advantages I mentioned above, the length of each stride (or in other words the distance covered each time the back feet hit the ground) is much longer. That is why cheetahs are so much FASTER than the other cats.

Answer to Question B:

This one is a little more difficult. There are different strategies that predators use to capture prey. Some predators sit still and wait for prey to walk by and then pounce on it. Some predators sneak up on or "stalk" prey. Some predators hunt in groups and surround the prey so that it can't flee, and some predators simply chase down the prey because they are fast enough. Cheetahs belong in this last group, although they do a fair amount of stalking too. For the most part, a cheetah will stalk a prey until it is within 100 feet and then start the chase. Most chases end, successful or not, within 20 seconds. During this time, the cheetah will run between 50-60mph.

All of the other cat species utilize either the pack hunting strategy (the lions) or the stalking strategy (all the rest) - this is a generalization, but I think it's pretty accurate. The cheetah is the only cat to use the pure speed method of hunting. That is WHY the cheetahs are so much faster than the other cats.

P.S. - here is an interesting thing to think about: There are some pretty rough limitations the cheetah has to deal with because it relies upon pure speed to catch prey. A big limitation is that to be as fast as they are means that they are not that strong. It is not uncommon for a cheetah to chase something down just to have a pack of hyenas steal it away! That is why you often see them carry their prey up into a tree to eat it - there are all sorts of scavengers out there that can take prey away from a tired cheetah. It's a little more difficult to take a meal away from a Bengal Tiger!

I hope that answers your question.

Todd Vincent
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Tennessee