Fastest Mammal on Earth

[ibanez7]

vid inside
http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/92995?fp=1

Cheetahs always win.

Usain Bolt may get his share of million-dollar jackpots for being a world champ sprinter, but he's got nothing on 8-year-old Sarah. The Cincinnati Zoo's cheetah ambassador just beat the 2001 land-speed world record for mammals.

A male cheetah in South Africa covered 100 meters in 6.19 seconds. Sarah didn't beat that just once, but twice: She first clocked in at 6.16 seconds and then 6.13 seconds—which, by the way, bested Bolt's August sprint by more than 3 seconds. And that's from a girl who has been in captivity pretty much her whole life.

Sarah's feat helped call attention to the species' endangered numbers. According to the zoo, the spotted felines' population has dropped from 100,000 back in 1900 to about one-tenth that number. Cincinnati has been doing its part to nurture more cubs than anywhere else. Not so coincidentally, the zoo was home to another record holder: Moya, who died this past January, held the title for a year before his brother Nyana (over in South Africa) snagged it. Now Sarah's got bragging rights.

She may not rest easy for long. Zaza, an 8-year-old female in South Africa, will be throwing down the gauntlet over in South Africa when the weather clears up, either later this month or in early October. Meanwhile, here are two videos of Sarah's sprint—a quickie AP version and the Cincinnati Zoo's longer one.


damn that is one fast cat.....

[blackSS01]

[KahanaReef]

She's awesome! I love big cats.

[ss~zoso~ss]

whats that little thing its chasing?

[0rion]

someone convert that to mph for me.

[86 IROC-Z]

someone convert that to mph for me.

Being a cheetah it's probably 60-70mph.

[0rion]

Being a cheetah it's probably 60-70mph.

I could've guessed at a 10 mph window.......

[86 IROC-Z]

From wikipedia:

It is the fastest land animal, reaching speeds between 112 and 120 km/h (70 and 75 mph)[3] in short bursts covering distances up to 460 m (1,500 ft), and has the ability to accelerate from 0 to 110 km/h (68 mph) in three seconds, faster than most supercars.[4] Recent studies confirm the cheetah's status as fastest land animal.

[Paul Huryk]

I watched that video yesterday and noticed that it really didn't start moving until after about 3 seconds.

The cheetah covered the 100m in 6.13s, average of about 50ft/s. Usain Bolt covered the 100m in 9.58s, about 32ft/s.

[ibanez7]

cheetahs are amazing animals....

animal planet had a show about them, stating a cheetah will track its prey at about 45mph, then within a 3 step burst be at full speed of about 70 mph...

they can maintain that speed for much more then 5 seconds otherwise, they can overheat and die

[pajeff02]

That is just plain awesome.

[35th-ANV-SS]

I wish I had a 60' time like that...

Very cool animals.

[0rion]

16.31 Meters per Second = 36.4844309234073 Miles per Hour

not a very good average really but it looks like 90% of that time was made up on the back half.

[zero_proto]

the ls1 was designed after the cheetah, i have loved cheetahs since i could remember i like to think of myself as one, i always did before major track meets etc................

[spdfrkOK]

did you know that cheetah's are the most easily domesticated of the big cats? or the least likely to eat your ass,also they cant retract their claws like the other big cats.