Everything for speed
A cheetah is a greyhound among cats: light, long-legged, with a flexible spine that lets the whole body stretch and coil with every stride, semi-retractable claws for grip, and a long tail used as a rudder in turns. It hunts by day, usually at dawn or dusk, picking a gazelle and closing the gap in a sprint that rarely lasts more than twenty seconds.
The cost is fragility. Cheetahs cannot defend a kill against lions or hyenas and often lose their meal, and in the Serengeti most cubs do not survive their first year.
Status
Roughly 7,000 cheetahs remain in the wild, down from an estimated 100,000 in 1900. They need enormous ranges and most live outside protected areas, which puts them in conflict with livestock farming. The IUCN lists the species as Vulnerable; the Asiatic cheetah of Iran is down to a few dozen animals.