Cheetah

A spotted, slender, sleek, graceful, swift predator...an animal that hunts for its food, on the run. This particular cat is a diurnal hunter, which means that it hunts primarily during the day. Why? Because it uses its incredible running ability to catch a daily meal, and it needs to be able to see what it is running after. It's all about adaptations. That means there are special characteristics about each animal that help it live. One of the cheetah's adaptations, its claws, help make it the fastest running animal. Its claws help it catch its prey, which runs nearly as quickly to escape this running machine.

There are certain natural history facts that seem to be common knowledge. The elephant is the largest land animal, and most everyone seems to know that the fastest running animal on the planet is the cheetah. Cheetahs are built for speed. They can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds and can reach 65 mph when chasing their favorite antelope prey.

A cheetah chase is not all that eager to be dinner, so when it is in a race with the worlds fastest land animal it just makes sense NOT to run in a straight line. Football players know this; they change direction often so they aren't tackled easily. But, the cheetah is ready for this tactic. Claws that stick out like a dog's give the cheetah traction in high speed turns. Even the cheetah's tail helps. Other cats have round, fluffy tails - like your house cat - but not the cheetah. Its tail has a flat surface, like the rudder of a boat, and it helps balance its body as the cheetah runs.

So the cheetah has speed licked. But there is another problem - stopping. When the antelope falls to the ground, tackled by the cheetah, the cat is still going 60 mph. The antelope isn't going to wait around if the cheetah flies by it. In order to stop immediately, the cheetah has a highly specialized, pointed pad in the back of each front leg. So, while going full speed, the cheetah can slam its two front legs down, hard. The pads tear into the ground bringing the cat to a near instantaneous halt. Then, it grabs its dinner before the antelope can get away. What a game of predator and prey. Both animals are equipped to survive. That is what the balance of life is all about.