
Tracking collars reveal just how extreme a wild cheetah’s movements can be - curtis
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2013/06/12/collars-reveal-why-just-how-extreme-cheetahs-can-be/
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Havoc
The stride length is mind blowing. 6-7 meters (21 feet).

World record long jump is 8.95 m.

Longer sure, but the one is a crowning achievement while the other is every
step...

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thaumasiotes
I assume you mean the world record long jump for humans is 8.95m. Why would
that matter to cheetahs? Wrestle an elephant, and you'll lose.

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omarchowdhury
He's pointing out that what is exceptional for us is mundane for cheetahs.

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kumarvvr
"Cheetahs accomplish this with leg and back muscles that make up half its body
weight. These contract at such high speeds that each kilogram of muscle
generates 100 watts of power. For comparison, greyhounds produce just 60 watts
with the same amount of muscle, horses manage just 30 watts, and Usain Bolt
can produce just 25. With these powerful muscles, a cheetah can speed up or
slow down by up to 9 mph in a single stride. The cat is like a sports car that
always runs on second gear."

This is astounding. 100 W per kilogram of muscle. Average cheetah weight is
around 50 kg (From their Wikipedia page). Considering their muscle weight is
around 25 kG, their power consumption is around 2500 Watts.This seems very
efficient to me, considering they can sustain lower speeds for longter time if
required.

Nature is crazy efficient.

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NegativeLatency
Efficient where it has to be.

Plants only convert between 3 and 6 percent of solar energy.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthetic_efficiency](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthetic_efficiency)

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thrill
OK, that gets a WOW. The article's discussion of some of the thought that has
gone into the collar technology (P2P assessment of when to increase the sensor
rate, such as during a hunt, for example) was really interesting.

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clairity
it's so amazing how level they can keep their heads while the rest of their
bodies contort so quickly and graciously.

coincidentally, i worked with john bertram (mentioned in the article) many
moons ago on gibbon locomotion. go watch gibbons navigate the 3D space of a
forest canopy at top speed. it's jaw-dropping.

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chucklenorris
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPXkUXXFoCw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPXkUXXFoCw)
indeed they are agile

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mindfulplay
That video is unbelievable. I have always fascinated by cheetahs and their
necks. But this just takes it to the next level.

Thanks for sharing this! I have nothing meaningful to add other than that I am
awestruck by this video.

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jcims
There’s something ancient and royal about the face of the cheetah, in slow
motion it’s simply majestic.

The music adds to the experience for sure, i found myself wiping my eyes
halfway through.

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sakopov
0-60mph in 3 seconds or just 3 strides. [1] Unbelievable.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8vejjVgIHg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8vejjVgIHg)

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z3t4
GPS's are not that accurate, you can't use it to measure top speed of humans.
Anyone know how much off GPS's can be ? I guess in 10 m/s they can be +- 1 m/s
off for good quality and all down to +- 50% for a bad GPS. Anyone know how
exact accelerometers are ?

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expertentipp
> 64 miles per hour (29 metres per second)

my units’ sense just got violated...

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z3t4
They prey they hunt is also very fast

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lamarpye
I would make a lousy cheetah

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UpshotKnothole
Amazing use of different technologies. Being able to overlay the gos data on
details maps is just so cool!

 _The data from the collars is astonishing, not least when Wilson overlays it
onto maps of the terrain captured through Google Earth. In one hunt, he can
see one of the cheetahs using a termite mound to bank!_

The Matrix: Now It’s Cheetahs

I also wonder what it feels like to run so fast? It can be kind of exciting to
ride a bike at half that speed, but to run, to have thst connection with the
ground must make it even more intense. I realize that the cheetah doesn’t feel
this of course, but for a human!

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chrismorgan
When I was cycling in the US in 2014 on my recumbent tricycle (so I’m less
than a metre off the ground, and feeling the surface of the road more), I
estimated that I got to about 90km/h as I approached Mojave—and it was only
that slow because I was using the brakes somewhat, otherwise I’m confident I
would have hit 100km/h. (I do wish I had been doing GPX logging at the time so
I’d have _proof_ of how fast I was going. Ah well.)

It was _fun_. Sure, I was consciously aware that if my trike failed I’d be
dead, p ≥ 0.95 (that’s why I was using the brakes at all), but it was
nonetheless _super_ fun. And very blowy indeed.

There’s just nothing like it in Australia; it’s all flat here by comparison,
so you don’t get the chance to just relax and glide along at 60–100km/h for
ten or fifteen kilometres (to say nothing of the next thirty kilometres where
I was very easily able to maintain 50km/h except for when I got stopped for
roadworks).

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davidgould
I've gone 51 mph (82 kph) on an upright road bike going down a 17% grade.
Terrifying. 60kph is fun but scary. But sprinting is really exciting. It is a
full effort acceleration from stand still to as fast as you can spin. It feels
really intense and crazy with the bike flexing and twisting from the effort.
It only lasts a few seconds but those feel like peak experience. I imagine the
cheetah feels something similar.

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chrismorgan
Somewhere around 80km/h on a fairly-long-and-steep-by-Australian-standards
hill is the most I’ve done on an upright road bike, but that wasn’t with
pedalling by the top speeds. Trying to accelerate by pedalling at those speeds
on a bicycle is _very_ dangerous. You can only sanely manage it if your
gearing is _way_ higher than the typical road bike has, and the vehicle is
well-maintained so that you can be confident you won’t have any slipping chain
(an easy recipe for disaster in such a situation).

In the anecdote I started this thread with, I was on a trike which is
inherently stable, so it was much safer for me; and I was just rolling down it
rather than pedalling—and I stayed at the top speed for at least a minute or
two, because the mountain was _that_ long and steep! (It had taken a long time
to get up the other side of the hill, perhaps an hour or an hour and a half, I
don’t recall precisely. Fortunately I got this payoff!)

