From spine to skull, the body of a cheetah is perfect and tailor made for running. The anatomy and physique facilitating its speed, along with its agility allows the cheetah to accelerate from 0 to 60m mph in 3 seconds, making it the fastest land animal on the planet. Only superfast vehicles can accelerate so fast.
The cheetah can reach a maximum speed between 68 and 75mph. The problem is cheetahs cannot sustain that speed for a long distance. However, they can do it for short bursts covering up to 1,600 feet or more. That means that you can actually outrun a cheetah, but only if you have long distance advantage.
In the world of animals, the cheetah is actually just slightly faster than the pronghorn antelope. The spectacle of a cheetah running at full speed is art.
And while cheetah can reach up to 75mph in wildlife, the fastest a cheetah has ran in measured settings is 61mph. Sarah, a cheetah from the Cincinnati zoo holds the record. She ran 100m in 5.95 seconds on June 20, 2012 with a top speed of 61mph. That is nearly 4 seconds faster than Usain Bolt’s 100m world record. And double his top speed.
