Talk:Cheetah

Citation

We need more citations for confirmation on the lead section. We can’t assume that their speed is 60 miles per hour just for having no source. Wikbehere (talk) 13:07, 5 April 2026 (UTC)

I recommend you make yourself familiar with MOS:LEAD !! BhagyaMani (talk) 15:42, 5 April 2026 (UTC)

I believe you are right their is no need for citations in the lead section. my apologies. Wikbehere (talk) 16:46, 5 April 2026 (UTC)

@BhagyaMani there's no need for double exclamation marks in your comment. Please keep discussions professional. ~2026-46804-52 (talk) 00:18, 28 August 2026 (UTC)

The section on the cheetah's top speed is ambiguous and contradictory.

The section currently reads: "The highest reliably reported running speed is 104 km/h (65 mph).[92][73] A speed of 100.1 km/h (62.2 mph) also has been reliably reported.[93] An 11-year-old cheetah from the Cincinnati Zoo set a record by running at a maximum speed of 98 km/h (61 mph).[94]"

If the highest reliably reported running speed is 104 km/h, then the 98 km/h record described in the last sentence is obviously not a record. Thus, it should be rephrased as a simple measured speed. In case the event was some sort of local record, or a specific record under certain conditions, the sentence should be clarified accordingly.

Moreover, if the information is not a record and isn't scientifically meaningful, it should be erased from the text, as to not signal the pertinence of every single speed measurement of cheetahs in history in this article. Despite popular belief, happening in Cincinnati and making the local news doesn't confer any special significance to the event.

Proper information curation in this specific section is of highest importance, since the cheetah is the fastest animal on land and its top speed may very well be the most sought-after piece of information in this entire article. ~2026-46804-52 (talk) 00:15, 28 August 2026 (UTC)

I already edited that part removing any reference to a record. You are right. In biology there is no such thing as "official measurements", everything is open to revision, and records only have meaning for ordinary people on the outside, not for biology. That 98 km/h report is not meaningful even if we take into account that the specimen from which it was reported was a specimen in captivity. The report of 100.1 km/h was also reported of a specimen in captivity. And the report of 104 km/h come from a "semi-wild" specimen, a orphaned specimen that was raised by humans in Africa, but when it reached adulthood, although it lived freely in the wild, it occasionally returned to where its raisers, at which time it was used to measure its running speed. So none of the highest reported top running speeds for cheetahs really come from a specimen in the wild. LeandroPucha (talk) 02:32, 26 September 2026 (UTC)