Lions and cheetah are faster, stronger and no less agile than their prey, but zebras and impalas compensate with a surprising tactic, researchers said Wednesday: slow down, and keep the big cats guessing. Indeed, fleeing at top speed is a fatal mistake, making it easier for the fearsome felines to close in for the kill, they reported in the journal Nature.
“If the prey is running flat out, it cannot speed up and its movements become predictable,” lead author Alan Wilson, a professor at the University of London’s Royal Veterinary College, told AFP. “Lower-speed hunts favour prey survival, because it gives the animals the opportunity to manoeuvre.”