Cheetahs warming up? The fastest animal in nature reaches a running speed of 93 km/h, but is only able to run 600 m

One of the most impressive animals that can be found in reserves is the cheetah. A skilled hunter who is considered the fastest mammal. Most of the guides "know how" to explain that the cheetah is a sprinter for short distances since after about 600 meters its body temperature rises rapidly and it must stop. is that so?

These days there are those who travel to visit the wonderful reserves in East Africa. Visiting the nature reserves is an experience that many want to experience again. A skilled guide adds and magnifies the experiences with the help of scholarly explanations and directing travelers to life and flora.

One of the most impressive animals that can be found in the reserves is the cheetah. A skilled hunter who is considered the fastest mammal. Most of the guides "know how" to explain that the cheetah is a sprinter for short distances since after about 600 meters its body temperature rises rapidly and it must stop. is that so?

Now it turns out that the accepted scientific explanation is not accurate. A team of researchers (led by Robyn Hetem) who studied cheetahs in a reserve in Namibia publishes their findings in the monthly Biology Letter (http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/9/5/20130472.abstract) refutes the accepted explanation and suggests a different assumption.

The team "implanted" sensors in six cheetahs. The sensors allowed the researchers to measure the body temperature of the cheetahs at all hours of the day, during activity, before and after hunting and while eating.

Unfortunately, two of the cheetahs that were tracked were killed by tigers, but the remaining four provided data that disproved the accepted explanation for the question of why after about 600 meters of a chase, the predators stop and abandon the prey. As I wrote above, the accepted explanation is "due to the great effort involved in running fast ("sprinting"), the hunter's body temperature rises quickly and if he does not stop, he may suffer from a fatal heat stroke."

The visible result in the field is that about 50% of the hunter's attempts end in failure, and in many of the failures the cheetah stops the chase after a few hundred meters, stops and breathes heavily. In the study it turned out that the temperature of the cheetahs remained stable while chasing prey. The temperature reached its peak after about 15 minutes of an unsuccessful hunt, while after a successful hunt the temperature reached its peak (doubled) after about 40 minutes, that is, during the meal.

Cheetahs hunt during the day in an open area for hundreds of meters and everyone in Savannah up to a distance of a few kilometers is aware of what is happening. That's why the cheetah has to eat his heart out quickly before lions, hyenas or even eagles come and take him away from the prey. Therefore, even before the cheetah "sits down" to dine, it scans the environment to locate a possible nuisance. Even while eating, the cheetah stops occasionally, straightens up and surveys the area.

According to the researchers, the stress the cheetah is under due to fear of other crazies is the cause of the temperature rise. Confirmation for the theory was received when one of the subjects suffered from a thorn in his leg and could not participate in the hunt. His sister hunted successfully and the "sufferer" joined the feast. His body temperature rose like his sister's.

Cheetahs hunt in daylight. In order not to suffer from the heat, they hunt in the morning or in the afternoon. But these are also the hours when there are tourists in the area. It turns out that in the Serengeti in Tanzania and also in the Masai Mara in Kenya there are cheetahs who have changed the hunting times due to interference from tourists.

The cheetahs "know" that in the afternoon the tourists come back for lunch and this "knowledge" caused the cheetahs in tourist areas to hunt in the hot afternoon hours.

According to the researchers, metabolic warming does not harm the hunter. According to the measurements: the body temperature of a cheetah that stopped after a chase reached 38.4 degrees. In an unsuccessful hunt, the cheetah's body temperature rose on average by half a degree, the average temperature rise following a successful hunt was one degree. That means double warming from the increase in the abandoned hunter. And again in a successful hunt there was a double warming. This is despite the fact that the level of activity in both cases is similar. Therefore, the researchers suggest that following a successful hunt, body temperature rises due to stress - fear of other predators, and not due to physical exertion.

The research was carried out at: Tusk Trust Cheetah Rehabilitation Camp. Studies in moose and impala have shown an increase in temperature when they appear frightened. That means once again pressure causes warming.

The question arises to which the researchers did not answer - why does the cheetah stop the chase after a short time? It is more for me to suggest that the disproportion between the cheetah's large chest, long legs, elongated body and its small head is visible and prominent. A small head means a small developed air intake system. That is, the cheetah is not able to supply his body with the oxygen required for strenuous activity for a long time, therefore after a short effort the oxygen supply in his body runs out and in order not to suffer from the deficiency he must stop. I wrote above "stops and breathes heavily" in light of the research the breathing is not to cool down but more and mainly to return the missing oxygen to the body.

So the next time you hear the warming explanation, you can be skeptical.

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The GPS revealed: the cheetah ran at a speed of 93 km/h during a hunt

Avi Blizovsky
Researchers from the Royal Veterinary School in Great Britain managed to collect detailed information on the hunting dynamics of a wild cheetah in its natural environment. The scientists used a GPS device and motion sensing systems mounted on a collar attached to the cheetah's neck.

Prof. Alan Wilson and his team managed to record the cheetah running at top speeds of up to 93 km/h. The study was published on June 13 in the journal Nature.

So far, measurements of the cheetah's positioning mechanism have only been made in captive animals running in a straight line, and few studies have measured speeds greater than those of hunting dogs. The estimation of the speed of wild cheetahs was made only from direct observations or films in open areas during daylight hours.

The team, led by Prof. Wilson, developed a tracking collar equipped with a GPS device and electronic motion sensors (accelerometers, magnetometers and gyroscopes) capable of providing position and speed data and sensing the movement of the animal. The devices on the collar receive energy from a combination of solar cells, and rechargeable and non-rechargeable batteries.

The software on the collar monitors the accelerometers to create activity summaries and detect quick hunting events and also interrupts the collar's battery operation during the day, so that researchers will only receive information relevant to a hunt.

In total, the researchers were able to collect data on 367 runs, performed by three adult females and two males over 17 months. Cases of eating after running indicate the success of the hunt, and they were identified in the activity data as low accelerations.

The data revealed that the cheetah's run begins with an acceleration phase, from zero or a slow tracking movement and brings the cheetah to high speed. So the cheetahs slow down and maneuver themselves before capturing the prey. About a third of runs include more than one period of sustained acceleration. In a successful hunt, bursts of acceleration were recorded before the speed returned to zero, when they were interrupted when the cheetah subdued the prey - in this case mainly impala, which makes up 75% of the cheetah's menu.

The average running distance was 173 meters. The long runs recorded for each of the cheetahs ranged from 407 meters to 559 meters, and the frequency of runs reached 1.3 times, so that if the prey was occasionally missed, high-speed movement is only responsible for a fraction of the daily distance that a cheetah covers - six kilometers and -40 meters.

The team was also able to identify factors responsible for successful hunting. A successful hunt includes a stronger deceleration on average, but no differences were recorded in peak acceleration, distance traveled by the cheetah during the hunt or hunting attempt, number of turns, or total turn angles. This indicates that the outcome is determined in the final stages of the hunt and the cheetah does not give up the hunt in advance in order to conserve energy or reduce the risk of injury. The data on the slowdown may reflect the actual capture of the prey.
The acceleration and deceleration data were double those of polo horses and reached those of hounds at the start of a race. The acceleration force of the cheetahs was 4 times higher than that of the sprinter Usain Bolt during the run in which he broke the world record in the 100 meters, 2 times that of racing dogs and more than 3 times that of racing polo horses.
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The catching and maneuvering abilities, and not the speed at its peak, were the key to the success of the hunt. The hunting process involves many maneuvers, with the maximum acceleration reaching 13 meters per second squared, at speeds of less than 17 meters per second. Polo horses reach an acceleration of 6 meters per second squared.
Prof. Alan Wilson explains: "Although the cheetah is recognized as the fastest land animal, very little is known about other aspects of its athleticism, in particular when it hunts in the wild.

"Our technology allows us to record for the first time the movement data of the hunting dynamics of a large predator in its natural environment and as a result we were able to record some of the largest values ​​for lateral acceleration and straight acceleration, deceleration and body mass.
In the future we will try to collect parallel data on other animals that will increase our knowledge about the speeds, flexibility and endurance in nature, and provide detailed information about the behavior of animals in nature. For example, information on the selection of habitats for endangered species that takes into account animal migration, hunting and resting habits will make it possible to make a better decision when planning reserves."

The cheetahs that participated in the study were part of an ongoing study by the Botswana Carnivore Conservation Fund in the Okavango Delta region of northern Botswana.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130614082900.htm