Cheetahs can aptly be called the race cars of the animal kingdom: sleek, graceful and supremely speedy.
Scientists have now taken a bit of a look under the hood of these feline Ferraris to gauge how much energy they burn as they traverse their African habitats, and to gain insight into factors that may be contributing to their precipitous population plunge.
A study published on Thursday in the journal Science described how researchers tracked 19 free-roaming cheetahs for two weeks at two sites in South Africa and Botswana. They measured energy expenditure after injecting cheetahs with isotope-laden water and later analyzing their feces.