Scientists Measure Lighting Fast Speed of Cheetahs, Acceleration Shows Creatures Incredible Quickness (Video)

Scientists recently discovered that a cheetah's sprinting speed may not be the only thing that makes them the fastest animal in the world.

"Pound for pound a cheetah's acceleration power is about four times that of Usain Bolt during his world-record 100 meters," said Alan Wilson, professor of locomotor biomechanics at London's Royal Veterinary College, who led the study, via National Geographic. "And what's more, a cheetah can still accelerate like that even when it is already doing 40 mph, then decelerate nearly as swiftly, turn hard, and sprint in another direction."

Researchers note that the cheetahs in the study group seldom hit their top gear of approximately 70 mph. Most just sped up to around 58 mph.

"I suspect that in more open areas like the Serengeti they may go a bit faster," Wilson said. "But most of the chases we recorded in Botswana involved relatively modest speeds. What we did record, however, some of the highest values for acceleration, deceleration, and body-mass power ever measured for any terrestrial animal."

Wilson and colleagues put tracking collar devices on five wild cheetahs in Botswana Okavango Delta and monitored them for a period of 17 months. The devices were activated whenever researchers noticed cheetah's preparing to hunt.

"Capturing prey seems to come down to maneuvering," he said, via The Kansas City Star. "It's all the zigzagging, ducking and diving."

As many prepared to sprint, the collar would beam back information regarding the animal's speed, its rate of acceleration and its quick deceleration. The authors of the study believe that these collar collecting devices could help give scientists more precise information regarding the speed and function of cheetah's powerful run.

Researchers hope that next year, they may be able to use aerial cameras and even remote-sensing technology to plot the cheetah's path.

"What we are hoping to do next is get an idea of the cheetahs' understanding and use of the terrain when they stalk their prey and launch into their sprints," Wilson said.

The findings for the study can be found in Nature magazine.

Want to see some of these guys in action? Check out this video, courtesy of The Smithsonian.