It’s been a long day on the Savannah, and as you take your hat off and put it on the jeep’s seat, you sigh in frustration. Sure, it was fun to be out in the African bush, looking for the alleged impala, but impala herds seemed as elusive as a thundercloud in the clear, blazing blue sky. The day was winding down; you check your safari watch your uncle gave you for your birthday. 4:00 PM. Yikes. Eanieka, your tour guide, was driving you to another spot near a watering hole…the last spot before the day ended. You sure hope the impalas are thirsty.

Finally! The jeep tears through the parched dirt and long grass, then jerks to a halt. The silence of the sweltering Savannah air surrounds you, and Eanieka says “Shhh…” and points. You follow his finger to see, far off in the distance, a herd of peacefully grazing impalas. A grin spreads across your face, but it’s only for a moment. Suddenly, you stare hard: a tawny, flecked back is slinking silently, stealthily, towards the impala herd. But the creeping animal is not out for a walk in the park. In a flash, it streaks outright towards to impalas, gracefully sweeping in, leaving a cloud of dust in its speeding wake. And when all seems lost for the impalas, they break away at a hearty gallop. The attack depended upon surprise, and the hunter had attacked much too early. The hunter comes to a stop, lifting its absurdly tiny head, pointing its stately, sleek body in the direction of its escaped prey.

You may have missed your up close interaction with the impalas, but that’s a small price to pay for seeing what you just did: The cheetah in chase, one of the most marvelous, rare, speeding wonders in the world.

Clocking in at up to 70 miles an hour, the cheetah is the undisputed king of speed and has gained the title of the fastest land animal in the world (the fastest animal is the Peregrine Falcon, which can dive at speeds up to 200 MPH!). With long tails for balance, semi-retractable claws that act like the spikes in soccer cleats, and eyesight that would make binoculars blush, sprinting is a breeze for this predator of speed.

Cheetahs are diminishing fast because farmers are reclaiming the cheetah’s hunting territory. And when you’ve got nothing to eat, well, you’re hungry! As if that weren’t enough, cheetahs are still illegally hunted for their spotted fur and nuisance possibilities. Also, cheetah cubs have a small chance of survival in the wild, due to predators such as hyenas and eagles.

Female cheetahs hunt alone, interacting with other cheetahs only to raise cubs of their own. Cheetahs grow to be adults in less than two years, then leave their mom. Brother cheetahs usually stay together and live in families called Coalitions.

Cheetahs hunt in the early morning or late afternoon; cheetahs may be fast, but they’re true scaredy cats, and can’t bear the thought of hunting at night when the lions and hyenas roam. If they went hunting at night, lions would steal a cheetah’s dinner and the cheetah, unscathed structure a must for top speeds, surrenders the dinner rather than risk being in a fight, even if its three cheetahs to one hyena!

Here are some amazing facts about the super-speedy cheetah:

Count to three; now think of this: A cheetah could have just put the pedal to the metal and topped speeds of 60 miles per hour in that short time, leaving the acceleration time of most pricey supercars in the dust.

A cheetah’s body, just like a car engine, reaches dangerously high temperatures at top speeds, which is why they cool down after a sprint.

Cheetahs hunting in the wild have a 50% chance; sometimes they catch dinner, sometimes they don’t.

Cheetahs can be tamed easily by professionals, which is why cubs are often sold illegally as pets. Cute? Yeah. But not as neat as seeing Cheetahs where they need to be: roaming free in the wild, where they can really kick up the speed and live a natural life.