Humans have kept cheetahs in captivity for 5,000 years and recorded the cats sprinting faster than 60 mph. Yet we’re only now grasping the true athleticism of the world’s fastest sprinter in its natural habitat, thanks to the work of a former competitive runner who wanted to understand “the enigma of the cheetah.”
Alan Wilson, a biomechanicist at London’s Royal Veterinary College, started out studying the locomotion of racehorses, greyhounds and jackrabbits at top speed. “We started running cheetahs in a zoo setting and didn’t really get them to go very fast,” he says. “Surely,” Wilson recalls thinking, “a wild cheetah goes even faster.”
So his team started developing equipment to measure how cheetahs move in their natural habitat. The work brought them to the dry grassland of Botswana’s Okavango Delta region, where researchers camped out in tents. Leopards, elephants and lions were frequent visitors.
Out on the delta, Wilson’s team produced the first close tracking of cheetahs hunting in the wild — and revelations that a remarkable ability to brake sharply and pivot may be as important for hunting success as the cat’s rocket-like acceleration. Here’s how the feline speedster catches its zigzagging prey.
