The CheetahThe cheetah is the large, spotted cat. Cheetahs are the fastest members of the cat family.
Infect cheetahs are the fastest land animals on Earth – clocked at speeds of more than 75 miles per hour (113 km/hr).
There are birds that can fly faster than a cheetah can run. However, there are no animals that can run more quickly than a cheetah can.
Not only that the cheetah can go form standing still to 45 miles per hour (72 km hour) in two seconds – faster that most sports car.
The name “cheetah” comes from a Hindi word that means “spotted one.” Hindi is one of the languages spoken in India.
The cheetah has been around for 4 million years and is the oldest member of the cat family.
In that time, it had to compete with all kinds of other predators for food. The way it succeeded was with speed.
Everything in a cheetah’s body is developed for speed. The cheetah’s spine is flexible, storing energy like a spring and powering the cheetah’s enormous strides.
Running at top speed, each stride can reach upward of 25 feet (8 cm) – about the length of two average cars put end to end.
The cheetah also has extra light bones to keep it nimble; oversize lungs, liver and heart to enable sudden bursts of energy large amounts of oxygen, semi-retractable claws for gripping the ground and a log tail used for stabilization during tight turning maneuvers.
The Cheetah
