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A speedy trial: What it takes to be the fastest land predator



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What makes cheetah the fastest land mammal? Why aren’t other animals, such as horses, as fast? While we haven’t yet figured out why, we have some idea about how — cheetahs, as it turns out, make use of a “galloping” gait at their fastest speeds, involving two different types of “flight”: one with the forelimbs and hind limbs beneath their body following a forelimb liftoff, called “gathered flight,” while another with the forelimbs and hind limbs stretched out after a hind limb liftoff, called “extended flight”. Of these, the extended flight is what enables cheetahs to accelerate to high speeds, …

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