Cheetah, Jaguar, Leopard, Lion, or Tiger - Which is fastest?

For over a decade I've been wanting to know which of the following big cats is the fastest and which is the slowest. Well obviously as many of us know - I myself have known this for over a decade now - the Cheetah is the fastest.

However that does not automatically tell us - not that we'd expect it tell us anything automatically - which of the others is the slowest, which is the second fastest, which is the second slowest, and which of them is in the middle.

The following information that I've researched may or may not be 100% true but is apparently true, and is plausible enough to warrant a mention. According to this page, the Jaguar is slower than the Lion but only a tiny bit slower.

According to that page, the average top speed of the Jaguar is 80 kilometres per hour / 50 miles per hour, while the average top speed of the Lion is 81 kilometres per hour / 50 miles per hour. Still not that much of a difference though.

According to this page, the average top speed of the Leopard is faster than the average top speed of the Lion. The average top speed of the Leopard is apparently 88.5 kilometres per hour / 55 miles per hour. I don't find that surprising because I always imagined the Leopard to be faster.

However in practice I did read a book that stated that Leopards were slightly faster than Jaguars. I wouldn't have guessed at the time that Lions were slightly faster as well, while not necessarily guessing that they would be slower.

According to this page, the average top speed of the Tiger is faster than the average top speed of the Leopard. I have to admit, I was fairly surprised, since I would have expected Tigers to be closer in speed to Lions than to Leopards, when in-fact it's Leopards that are closer.

Being heavier than Leopards, I would have expected Tigers to be slower, but I did guess correctly that Tigers were faster than Lions. I was apparently mistaken in believing that Leopards were faster than Tigers since according to that page, the average top speed of the Tiger is 96 kilometres per hour / 60 miles per hour.

I guess it's a good thing I've coincidentally kept this one till fast, because it's the one that everyone should know. Which is faster between the Tiger or the Cheetah? According to this page, and probably everywhere else that has information on Cheetahs, the average top speed of the Cheetah is faster than the average top speed of the Tiger.

The average top speed of the Cheetah is 112 kilometres per hour / 70 miles per hour, which makes them the fastest animal of the big cats, or indeed any animal that moves on foot. I'd expect them to be the fastest of the big cats because they have weaker bodies and lighter bones, but they have leaner bodies which helps them to run faster.

Last thing before we proceed from the context of the article to the template of the article. Cheetahs aren't actually that fast. Ever wonder what they do when you're not watching them? I thought the answer would have been obvious.

Cheetahs take the credit for being the fastest animal that runs on feet, but that's just because they cheat. They always cut corners or whatever dirty stuff it takes for them to cheat their way to the front.