The cheetah is the fastest land animal. In 2013, researchers in Botswana used a GPS tracking collar to record a top speed of 25.9 meters per second (58 miles per hour, or 93 kilometers per hour) for a wild cheetah (as of November 2026).

The Botswana team built its own tracking collar with a GPS and motion sensors, and it recorded 367 hunting runs by five wild cheetahs. The five collared cheetahs lived in Botswana's Okavango Delta.

A cheetah can speed up from zero to 45 miles per hour (72 kilometers per hour) in just 2.5 seconds, according to the National Zoo. Pound for pound, a cheetah's acceleration power is about four times that of Usain Bolt, the sprinter, in his world-record 100 meters. Most hunts in the Botswana study involved only moderate speeds.

In Namibia, researchers fitted 164 male and female cheetahs with GPS collars, and adult males follow one of two plans. They roam over areas of up to 1,600 square kilometers, or they defend a small territory of about 380 square kilometers. Females in the study used home ranges of about 650 square kilometers.

A coalition of male cheetahs is usually two to three littermates that stay together for life, hunting together and claiming a territory. Cheetahs hold a territory mark by leaving urine or droppings on prominent landmarks such as large trees and termite mounds.

Camera traps identify cheetahs by their unique spots, and the huge number of pictures is very time-consuming to check. Researchers can also work out which cheetah left a dropping, what it ate and its health from DNA, hair and hormones in its scat.

A mother cheetah carries her cubs for 90 to 95 days before they are born. A cheetah mother gives birth to three to five cubs, and sometimes as many as eight in one litter. Female cheetahs raise their cubs on their own and meet adult males only to breed.

A mother cheetah moves her cubs often to keep them safe. Cubs are strong enough to follow their mother on a hunt by the time they are six weeks old. Cubs are weaned between 3 and 6 months of age and stay with their mother until they are 15 to 17 months old.

A 2026 genetic study found the extinct American cheetah was more closely related to the puma than to the cheetah. Its body looked like a cheetah's.

The Asiatic cheetah was once found from Israel to India and as far north as the Caspian Sea, and the Asiatic cheetah is a cheetah subspecies. As of November 2026, it survives only in Iran and is critically endangered.

Cheetahs live on grasslands and open plains, and most cheetahs live in Africa. As of November 2026, cheetahs are found in 23 African countries and two Asian countries, according to Panthera.

Words to know

• collar: neck band
• coalition: male cheetah group
• territory: claimed area
• scat: animal droppings
• weaned: no longer nursing