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TL; DR: > Though cheetahs and impalas were universally more athletic than lions and zebras, both cheetahs and lions had a similar advantage over their prey — t
by a_c 9y ago
TL; DR:
> Though cheetahs and impalas were universally more athletic than lions and zebras, both cheetahs and lions had a similar advantage over their prey — they were 38 percent faster, 37 percent better at accelerating, 72 percent better at decelerating and their muscles were 20 percent more powerful.
> [...] impalas and zebras were typically moving at only half their maximum speed. [...] The model showed that impalas and zebras have the best chance of making a getaway if they run at moderate speeds, because that leaves more options for maneuvering away at the last second
- DougBTX 9y agoAnd how it relates to programming: > Everyone knows that debugging is twice as hard as writing a program in the first place. So if you're as clever as you can be when you write it, how will you ever debug it? - Brian Kernighan
- jwilk 9y ago> Though cheetahs and impalas were universally more athletic than lions and zebras Wait, what? Did they mean that cheetahs and lions were more athletic than implalas and zebras?
- icegreentea2 9y agoNo, I think they mean they meant exactly what they wrote. Impalas are too fast for lions to hunt (normally). Single cheetahs are too small to take down a zebra (normally).
- bluedino 9y agoAn Impala is basically a deer. 150lbs, can jump over an 8 foot fence...where a Zebra is basically a small horse. 500lbs and can only jump 2 feet in the air.
- jwilk 9y agoTranslation for SI users: 150 lbs ≈ 70 kg 8 ft ≈ 2.4 m 500 lbs ≈ 230 kg 2 ft ≈ 60 cm
- gus_massa 9y agoImpalas and zebras must be more athletic because they have to scape the cheetahs and lions 100% of the time. If you scape only 99% of the time you are dead. Also, the predator is happy to catch any of the preys, they can pick a tired/old/sick/unlucky one. So if 99% of the prey scape, they are probably happy.
- icegreentea2 9y agoThe articles says right there that the hunters are better at acceleration, deacceleration, top speed, and muscle density than their prey. The conclusion of the paper (at least as shared in its abstract) is exactly "the predator needs to be more athletic than its prey to sustain a viable success rate".
- Retric 9y agoYou don't need to be faster than the predator, you need to be faster than other members of the herd.
- mywacaday 9y agoReminds me of the Billy Connolly joke about the two camera men filming a lion. The lion sees the two camera men and proceeds to chase after them. One camera man stops and puts on a pair of running shoes. His colleague tells him “You will never outrun the lion in those”. He replied, “I don’t need to outrun the lion, I just need to outrun you!!”.