Locomotion dynamics of hunting in wild cheetahs

Although the cheetah is recognised as the fastest land animal, little is known about other aspects of its notable athleticism, particularly when hunting in the wild. Here we describe and use a new tracking collar of our own design, containing a combination of Global Positioning System (GPS) and inertial measurement units, to capture the locomotor dynamics and outcome of 367 predominantly hunting runs of five wild cheetahs in Botswana. A remarkable top speed of 25.9 m s −1 (58 m.p.h. or 93 km h −1 ) was recorded, but most cheetah hunts involved only moderate speeds. We recorded some of the highest measured values for lateral and forward acceleration, deceleration and body-mass-specific power for any terrestrial mammal. To our knowledge, this is the first detailed locomotor information on the hunting dynamics of a large cursorial predator in its natural habitat. A novel tracking collar provides highly precise location, speed and acceleration data from 367 runs by five cheetahs in the wild; although a top speed of 58 m.p.h. was reported, few runs were above 45 m.p.h. with the average run around 31 m.p.h., and hunting success depended on grip, manoeuvrability and muscle power rather than outright speed. The hunting prowess of the cheetah The cheetah is widely recognized as the fastest animal on land, with a reported top speed of 29 metres per second. However, few precise measurements have been made and only rarely have speeds faster than racing greyhounds (18 m s −1 ) been recorded. Now a team from the Royal Veterinary College, UK, working with the Botswana Predator Conservation Trust, has used custom-built tracking collars containing GPS and inertial measurement units to capture the locomotor dynamics of cheetahs hunting in the wild. The top speed observed was 25.9 m s −1 (93 kilometres per hour). Most hunts involved only moderate speeds, their success relying on a combination of power, acceleration and agility.