Cheetah: Built for Speed

Anyone who has either traveled on safari in Africa or watched a nature show on television is probably familiar with one of the world’s most beautiful cats – the cheetah.  This streamlined feline is perfectly adapted for speed, speed, speed.  No other land mammal is as fast as the cheetah, which has a top speed of 60-70 miles per hour!

Cheetahs prey primarily on gazelles, but also favor impalas, duikers, reedbucks, and occasionally take hares and warthogs.

But the adaption for speed comes with a price.  As Richard Estes has noted in his excellent book, The Behavior Guide to African Mammals, “in acquiring the speed to catch the fleetest antelopes, the cheetah sacrificed the strength and weapons needed to defend its kills and offspring against competitors.”  Lions, leopards, and wild dogs have all been known to kill cheetahs, and cheetahs also often lose their own kills to lions, wild dogs, and spotted hyenas.

We were very fortunate to see this mother and juvenile cheetah in Tarangire National Park during our dry-season ungulate surveys.