If we hold a short-distance race for all animals, the cheetah definitely wins the gold medal! With a top speed of 70 miles per hour, cheetahs deserve to be crowned with the title "the world's fastest short-distance runners" If we hold a marathon, however, animals such as gazelles or horses can defeat cheetahs easily. Why is that? Well, while cheetahs are running, their body temperatures rise quickly. About 20 seconds after the race starts, cheetah become too overheated to continue the race, and they must stop.
Since cheetah cannot run for long, they must get very close to their prey before launching a surprise attack. Hence, if a cheetah is chasing after a gazelle, the gazelle is likely to escape if it can outrun the cheetah for more than 20 seconds. As cheetah stalk their prey-herds of gazelle, impalas, or antelopes - they look for the weak ones whose speeds are impaired. They do so to improve their chances of hunting down an animal. Once they successfully bring down their victim, they must catch their breath first. Then they have to eat really fast before other predators, such as hyenas and lions, come and steal their food