How Fast Is a Cheetah? Top Speed and Acceleration

What is a cheetah’s top speed?

Animal speeds are hard to measure, and many famous figures are guesses or come from methods that cannot be checked. For the cheetah, however, there are several careful measurements, and they agree well with each other.

The 1997 study, by N. C. C. Sharp, timed a tame adult cheetah at an average of 29 m per second, which works out at about 104 km/h (65 mph). The paper described it as the highest running speed reliably recorded for any animal. Sarah’s 100 m time of 5.95 seconds compares with Usain Bolt’s world record of 9.58 seconds.

The popular figure of about 112–114 km/h (70–71 mph) comes from older estimates whose measurement methods were faulty, and it is no longer accepted.

What wild GPS-collar studies showed

Until 2013, there were almost no precise measurements of cheetahs running in the wild. A team led by Alan Wilson of the Royal Veterinary College in London designed collars that combine GPS with motion sensors, and fitted them to five wild cheetahs in the Okavango Delta region of northern Botswana. Over 17 months, the collars recorded 367 runs, most of them hunts.

The fastest run reached 25.9 m per second, or 93 km/h (58 mph). Most hunts were much slower, with an average top speed of about 54 km/h (33 mph). Chases averaged about 170 m (560 ft), and the longest measured 559 m (1,834 ft).

The study’s biggest surprise was not top speed but maneuverability. The cheetahs could gain about 3 m per second (11 km/h) of speed or lose about 4 m per second (14 km/h) in a single stride, and they produced some of the highest acceleration, braking and turning forces ever recorded in a land mammal. In real hunts, prey such as impala zigzag sharply, so the ability to brake and turn often matters more than flat-out speed.

A follow-up study by the same team, published in 2018, compared cheetahs with impala and lions with zebras in Botswana. Within each predator–prey pair, the predators had about 37 percent greater acceleration and 72 percent greater braking capacity than their prey, and the cheetahs and impala were more athletic than the lions and zebras.

How fast does a cheetah accelerate?

Cheetahs are often said to go from 0 to about 97 km/h (60 mph) in around three seconds, quicker than most sports cars. That figure is widely repeated, but it is a popular estimate rather than a precise measurement. What has been measured is that wild cheetahs can add roughly 11 km/h (7 mph) of speed in one stride.

The power behind this is extraordinary. In the 2013 study, cheetahs produced up to about 120 watts of muscle power per kilogram of body weight during acceleration, roughly double the figure for the fastest racing greyhounds.

How long can a cheetah sprint?

A cheetah can hold its top speed for only a few seconds, and a full chase rarely lasts more than a minute or covers more than a few hundred meters. Sprinting relies on fast muscle fibers that burn fuel without enough oxygen, and these tire quickly.

For decades, books said cheetahs give up chases because they overheat. A 2013 study by Robyn Hetem and colleagues tested this by logging the body temperature of four free-living cheetahs. When chases ended, their body temperature averaged a normal 38.4 °C (101.1 °F). Temperatures rose more after successful hunts than after failed ones, which the researchers linked to the stress of guarding a fresh kill rather than to the run itself.

Why are cheetahs so fast?

The cheetah’s body is shaped for sprinting from nose to tail:

• Flexible spine. The spine coils and stretches like a spring, adding length to every bound. One stride covers about 4–7 m (13–23 ft), and for part of each stride all four feet are off the ground.
• Long, light legs. A slim build, long limbs and a small head keep weight down.
• Grippy claws. Blunt, partly retractable claws grip the ground like running spikes, while a sharp dewclaw on each front leg hooks prey.
• Big hind-leg muscles. A large share of the muscle is made of fast-contracting fibers built for bursts of power.
• Rudder-like tail. The long, flattened tail helps the cheetah balance and steer during sudden turns.

How does a cheetah compare with other fast animals?

The pronghorn of North America cannot match a cheetah in a sprint, but it can keep running fast for far longer. For more records on land, in the air and in water, see our list of the fastest animals, and for how the cheetah’s speed compares with a leopard’s strength, read cheetah vs leopard.