Cheetahs - the fastest land animals - move like race cars, using a mixture of stealth and speed to win, a new study has found.
Cheetahs 'win' by killing the desirable prey, zooming forward, making sharp turns and screeching to a stop as needed during a hunt, researchers said.
John Wilson of North Carolina State University's Department of Biology and colleagues monitored speed, position and acceleration of six free-ranging cheetahs at Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, southern Africa.
Researchers attached GPS devices and movement monitors to drop-off collars placed on the animals.
Wilson and his team determined that cheetah chases usually consist of two phases, an initial burst of acceleration that allows the cheetah to quickly catch up with the victim and a slowed-down period that allows cheetahs to make sharp, calculated turns as the distance between predator and prey closes in.
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) competitors on a track follow similar tactics because they have to negotiate sharp turns before putting the pedal to the metal, 'Discovery News' reported.
"Much of a cheetah's pursuit thus appears less of a high-speed rush, and more of a carefully played out life-or-death duel between predator and prey, in which opposing qualities of speed and manoeuvrability are pitted against each other," researchers said.
