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Studying wild cheetahsThe RVC WildlifeTracking Collars contained high accuracy GPS (to record position on the ground) and very sensitive electronic motion sensors to detect speed, acceleration, deceleration, turning forces and banking angles of the cheetahs, even at the high speeds of hunting. This enabled us to make measurements, take high-speed video and test collars. Some of the cheetahs at the Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre are used to people and have been trained to chase a lure to simulate their natural hunting behaviour. In this picture he’s wearing two sets of equipment so we could compare the results when putting the sensors on different parts of the body. We had to be sure the collars would work properly and collect exactly the right data. Once the collars went onto the wild cheetahs in remote northern Botswana, we couldn’t touch them again for a year. He was very happy to have many extra runs on the beach during the study. We used a lurcher to test the collars and to carry out validation studies. Much of the early development work took place in the UK and South Africa. Our answer was to develop innovative tracking collars equipped with high-accuracy GPS and motion sensors to capture every detail of the animal's movements, with long-life and solar rechargeable batteries and remote programming and data upload capabilities. True peak performance would only be achieved in the wild, and was most likely to be seen during hunting.īut how can you obtain detailed biomechanics data from a sprinting, turning wild carnivore in pursuit of its dinner? Measuring peak performance Testing the technology We wanted to know whether that single animal really did reveal the cheetah’s top speed and to discover more about the cheetah's other remarkable athletic capabilities. Even the highly cited 'cheetah top speed' comes from just three measured runs by one individual cheetah in 1965. Most measurements of cheetah locomotion had been made on captive animals chasing a lure in a straight line, with few studies eliciting speeds faster than racing greyhounds.įor wild cheetahs, estimates of speed have only ever been made from direct observation or film, in open habitat and during daylight hours. It is well known that cheetahs are the world’s fastest sprinters, but until this study the top speed of wild cheetahs had never been measured. People: Alan Wilson, Tatjana Hubel, Kyle Roskilly Dynamics and Energetics of Hunting in the Cheetah