From a standing start, a cheetah can accelerate to 45 miles per hour in just two seconds! Click on the icons below to learn where cheetahs live, what they eat, how they hunt and how they reproduce. You can even pet a cheetah in Zoobooks Virtual Zoo!

Cheetahs are the fastest land animals on earth. For short spurts, they can reach speeds of up to 70 miles per hour. Even more amazing, cheetahs can build up speed, or accelerate, at an incredible rate. From a standing start, a cheetah can accelerate to 45 miles per hour in just two seconds! Most racing cars can't do that. Everything about cheetahs is built for speed—from their long legs and springy backbones to their streamlined, muscular bodies. Unlike other big cats, cheetahs rely on speed rather than strength to survive.