Cheetah

Cheetahs are the fastest land animals capable of achieving up to 70 mph (113 kmph) in short bursts and can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in about 3 seconds—faster than most sports cars. 

It has evolved for speed with long muscular legs, a lightweight frame with a small collar bone, a flexible spine, and semi-retractable claws that act like runners' cleats!. Their tail acts like a rudder to help steer during fast chases. 

They are not scavengers and hunt only in daylight and use stealth to get within 100-200 feet of prey before a quick sprint. However, because sprinting takes a lot of energy, they only chase for short distances (around 20–30 seconds) and give up if unsuccessful. 

While they’re the fastest, they also face lots of pressure to eat fast so as to avoid losing their food to stronger predators like lions, hyenas, or even vultures.

Cheetahs also have distinctive "tear lines"—black lines running from the inner corners of their eyes down to the sides of their mouth that act as natural sunglasses to reduce glare from the sun and help them focus on prey.

Spot the difference

• Cheetah spots are solid black and round and are uniformly distributed as single spots all over the body.
• Leopard spots are clusters of black rosette spots forming circular shapes with a lighter centre. The spots are smaller and closer together than those of jaguars.
• Jaguar spots are also rosettes, like the leopard, but with a central black spot inside many of them. Jaguars have larger rosettes, spaced wider apart than those on a leopard.