The world’s quickest cat

She would show even the mighty Usain Bolt two clean pairs of heels. Sarah the cheetah has broken the land speed record for mammals by running 100 metres in 6.13 seconds. This is three seconds faster than Bolt’s human record-breaking run. Sarah’s time was even more impressive because she is eight  -  positively middle-aged for a big cat like her.

The cheetah had three attempts at breaking the record of 6.19 for the 100 metres, set by another cheetah in 2001. On her first try she smashed it, running 6.16 seconds. Then she did even better, setting her new record and hitting a top speed of 60mph. On her third attempt, despite a 15-minute break to rest her paws, she dawdled along in 6.33.

source:  dailymail.co.uk

By that stage she’d probably lost her motivation, as on her second run she managed to catch the stuffed animal used as a lure  -  and probably found that it wasn’t so delicious after all.

Sarah was sprinting on a specially constructed race track, rather like a greyhound track, which has been set up at the zoo’s regional breeding centre.

The run was organised by the zoo’s Cat Ambassador Programme, which competes with a rival conservation scheme in South Africa.

Though explosive, Sarah’s run failed to reach the top cheetah speed of 70mph. The cats can accelerate to that speed in three seconds thanks to their enlarged heart and lungs. They also use their tails as rudders, allowing them to make faster turns.

While cheetahs may the fastest land mammals, they have some way to go to beat the speediest birds.