Biologists first measured the speed of cheetahs in the wild
text: Alexander Temples / Infox.ru
published June 13 ’13 17:01
hunting cheetahs running around the savannah to the vehicle speed. As shown by GPS-navigators, attached to the neck of predators in the wild, they can accelerate to 93 km / h
said in an article published by the British zoologists from the Royal Veterinary College in a recent issue of the journal Nature.
authors were caught in the north of Botswana 5 cheetahs and put collars on them, equipped with GPS-navigation and instruments for measuring acceleration at start. Collars were working on solar energy, for a total observation took 18 months. During this time, scientists have documented more than 350 episodes of hunting cheetahs.
was found that the maximum velocity in the wild cheetahs slightly lower than in a zoo (93 and 105 km / h respectively). In this case, cheetahs rarely go all out in the race: the average during hunting their speed is 60% of the maximum. In general, these animals rely on high maneuverability.
observations showed that cheetahs are able to slow down very quickly and dramatically accelerate. In the dispersal of their muscle power is 120 watts per kilogram. Do greyhounds champions and sprinters this figure is 2-4 times less. In this case, the load on their bundles of 3 times the burden falling on the horses in the game of polo.
In addition, it was found that cheetahs often prey on the ground, covered with bushes and trees, so they often have to make sharp turns and overcome obstacles. In the future, the researchers plan to conduct a similar study on lions.
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