
"The 'Sweet Spot' Size: Unravelling the Mystery of Cheetahs' Unmatched Speed"
A new study explains why the fastest animals on land, in water, and in air are all of intermediate size, revealing that an animal's maximum running speed is determined by the speed and extent of muscle contraction. Animals around the size of a cheetah hit a "sweet spot" where these two limits coincide, while larger animals like elephants hit a "work capacity limit" and smaller animals hit a "kinetic energy capacity limit." The research, tested against data from over 400 species, accurately predicted maximum running speeds and could potentially guide the development of robots emulating nature's finest runners.












