Usain Bolt set an Olympic record for the 100m dash at the Olympics last night, coming in at 9.63 seconds. That's mighty fast -for a human. But a cheetah named Sarah covered that distance in only 5.95 seconds!
Sarah's June 20 sprint is the fastest timed 100 meters ever run by anything on the planet, the officials said—though it was no suprise to Cathryn Hilker, founder of the Cincinnati Zoo's Cat Ambassador Program, who helped raise Sarah from a cub.
"Nobody can run like Sarah," Hilker said. "She's special. I always knew she could run under six seconds, but to see it happen like this is wonderful."
"She looked like a polka-dotted missile," added National Geographic photo editor Kim Hubbard. "I've never seen anything alive run that fast."
Cheetahs don't run to impress people. If you don't give them an incentive, they may do something like this. The Cincinnati Zoo race had cheetahs chasing a stuffed toy dog, an activity they have enjoyed before. See a video of Sarah in action at National Geographic News. Link -via the Presurfer
(Image credit: Ken Geiger, National Geographic)
A little googling tells us that the fastest speed for any animal is a 200 mph dive by Peregrine falcon.