- [Voiceover] Here are cheetahs, Dash and Dinari.

[bright upbeat music] These three-year-old cheetahs are the fastest land mammal and have the ability to reach speeds up to 70 miles per hour.

That's as fast as a car on a highway.

But how do they do it?

They have small, lightweight heads and enlarged nostrils for oxygen intake, and they also have enlarged heart and lungs to help supply the body with all that oxygen.

[bright upbeat music] Although they have these adaptations specifically for speed, they're only sprinters.

With all that power, they can only run at top speeds for about 30 seconds before they get winded.

They have large forward facing eyes with binocular vision.

This means they have incredible depth perception for catching their prey.

Just like an athlete might put black paint under their eyes to prevent glare from the stadium lights, cheetahs have built in glare protection.

The black teardrop markings on their face reflects sunlight and prevents glares, so they can use their supervision to catch prey.

With a stride that can cover 30 feet in one bound, cheetah's spines also have special adaptations built for speed.

In order to have greater movement of their legs, cheetahs have a flexible spine and a small, flattened rib cage.

[bright upbeat music] See that long tail?

It's not just cute.

Cheetahs have long tails that help them balance during their sprints, and it also helps with steering during quick direction changes.

[bright upbeat music] If you have a house cat, you know that your sweet kitty has retractable claws.

That means they can pull in and hide their claws.

Cheetahs claws are different.

They're semi retractable claws, meaning they are partially out all the time.

They use their claws like soccer cleats for better traction when they zip across the savanna to catch a meal.