• Question: why is a cheetah faster than humans on average?

    Asked by sportysmithy to Helen, Jenni, Mark, Martin, Stu on 14 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Helen O'Connor

      Helen O'Connor answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      sorry I don’t know – but perhaps if we had 4 legs too it might be a more even race?

    • Photo: Jenni Tilley

      Jenni Tilley answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      because they’re designed to run faster – we’ve evolved to catch prey by throwing things at it and catching it in smart ways, but cheetahs have to run down their prey. So they’ve adapted to have very powerful muscles and tendons in their legs, and to be far more streamlined than we are.

      I wonder what it feels like to run that quickly… :s

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