Research overview: high-speed pursuit and capture tactics in cheetahs

GPS and accelerometer studies of wild cheetahs have transformed understanding of how the fastest land animal actually hunts. This overview surveys findings that hunting success depends less on top speed than on manoeuvrability, with cheetahs decelerating sharply and using rapid turns to match the evasive movements of prey. Hunts are typically short, explosive pursuits over a few hundred metres, and capture often hinges on out-turning rather than out-running the target. The topic reframes the cheetah's celebrated speed as one component of a tactical pursuit system, and it links locomotor biomechanics to the behavioural decisions that determine whether a chase ends in a kill.