Tricky turns give prey a chance against lions and cheetahs

Author: Susan Milius / Source: Science News for Students

Scientists have some advice for an impala suddenly rushed by a cheetah.

Don’t just zoom off as fast as four hooves can carry you. The cheetah will catch you in a straight race. The best escape move is some fluky turn, even though it requires a slower stride. Swerve far enough, and the cheetah behind you will be racing too fast to make the same turn. That’s according to a new analysis of the most detailed chase data yet from big predatory cats.

Overall, cheetahs and lions are more athletic than the impalas and zebras they chase. However, prey still have a chance, says Alan Wilson. He studies biomechanics — how animals move. He works in Hatfield, England, at the Royal Veterinary College of the University of London.

Wilson’s group teamed up with researchers in the southern African nation of Botswana to collect motion data from wild animals. This included several hundred thousand strides from those animals. That let the researchers reconstruct the animals’ sprints and turns. “You’re actually doing a step-by-step dissection,” Wilson explains, “which is pretty cool.”

Wilson is a veterinarian and research scientist who says he’s “an equipment geek.” He began collecting data on cheetah chases in 2011. “Typically, your tracking collar will tell you where an animal is once an hour — or once every five minutes if you’re lucky,” he says.

So Wilson and his colleagues designed new collars.

The new collars record data to calculate an animal’s position, speed and acceleration. And not just ever few minutes. These collars collect data multiple times a second. The collar falls off an animal after a certain time. Researchers can retrieve it. Then…

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