Do cheetahs die after sprinting for 30 seconds?

10/23/2018

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Nature Story: Do cheetahs die after sprinting for 30 seconds?

As we know, cheetahs are the fastest living land animals, for they can accelerate to around 120 km/h for 20–30 seconds, or even 60 seconds!

But despite their tremendous speed, cheetahs have very limited endurance, because should they keep their long pace up under the blazing African sun, they immediately die from over-heating. Indeed, the cheetah’s body temperatures increase over the course of the day, and once they reach their highest peak (around 40 degrees Celsius) when running, the cat will immediately break off its run so as to not get overheated.

The reason for this lies in the fact that when the cheetah runs at full speed, blood pumping rates from the heart to other body parts also become fast, because the heart can only pump blood for a maximum time of 10 seconds, and thus the pace starts to slow down after said time.

So, the answer to your question is yes: a cheetah definitely dies if it keeps on sprinting after 30 seconds.

This information was taken from Quora. Click here to view the original post.

Were you surprised to learn that a cheetah can't be sprinting for more than 30 seconds?

#animals #Nature #Quora

What are your thoughts on this subject?

83 Comments

Yousuf Mirza

False. The cheetah just doesn't drop dead when the stopwatch reaches 31 seconds. It just slows down a bit and gives up the chase! It is more likely to die of starvation and exhaustion if it has a couple of days off unsuccessful chases!! Cheetahs prefer to hunt in the cooler hours when they are less likely to overheat.

emorrow

First paragraph says they can sprint for "even up to 60 seconds." Make up your mind please

mikerr

The cheetah would have to run for more than 30 seconds to approach the danger zone and then die. The question is poorly phrased. Yes at some time after 30 seconds a cheetah will die if it continues to run at full speed . The cheetahs natural instincts like ours will tell it to slow down before it reaches the fatal zone.

Wayne Morrison

In the start of this answer you say 70 mph for 20 or 30 seconds even up to a minute then you close by saying yes they die if they sprint for 60 seconds. I'm sure there are a number of factors that determine maximum speed and duration. The actual physical condition of the animal, weather, ambient temperature, terrain. To say they die at 60 is overstating the danger.

johnedaura

Could sprint for up to 60 seconds but probably not at 100% top speed. The cheetah must be Very good at gauging when prey is withiin 30 to 60 second sprint range, but preferably much closer.

Aleta Edin

This reminded me of a statement we used as children. “You’ll die after it.” Everyone will die after you do this or that because everyone will eventually die so if you haven’t died before it. You will definitely die after it.

Elsy O. Stromberg

They're not going to run themselves to death.

Leonardo Scamacca

Sounds like the cheetah will take the 100m, 200m and probably the 400m but since it’ll drop dead, I should be able to take it in the 1500m.

Shelley Durocher

emorrow, I think it meant that they are physically capable of sprinting for 60 seconds, barring no limitations from an outside source. But it is a bit awkwardly worded. Maybe: If not for the danger of overheating in the hot sun, a cheetah could easily sprint 60 seconds.

garrett scott

Really poorly written commentary. As Aleta Edin observed, All living creatures die after they do anything. Very rare is the death immediately after any of the things we or cheetahs do. Also, in the body of information, the phrase "long pace" is used where I suspect "fast pace " may have been intended.