Cheetahs are the world's fastest animal with their top speed clocking as fast as a runaway Ferrari at 52 miles per hour. However, little did we know that it's not speed that actually makes them more lethal, but rather their ability to shift gears with relative ease.

According to the study recently released by a group of scientists at the Royal Veterinary College at the University of London, cheetahs are the perfect killing machines because they are not only fast but agile predators.

Cheetahs, even at top speed, have the natural gift to leap sideways and make tight turns while chasing their helpless preys.

Professor Alan M. Wilson, the lead scientist in the research, said the cheetahs' strong muscle and outstanding gripping power give these animals the ability to slow down as much as 9 mph in a single stride.

"Cheetahs don't actually go very fast when they're hunting," Mr Wilson said in their latest report on the Journal Nature, as reported by the New York Times. "The hunt is much more about maneuvering, about acceleration, about ducking and diving to capture the prey."

"Its muscles are very powerful. They're arranged in a way that gives it the ability to accelerate very quickly," added Mr Wilson, who worked 10 years with his team developing a sophisticated tracking collar to monitor the cheetah's hunting behaviour in the Botswana savannah.

With his recent findings, Mr Wilson could have finally provided an accurate data about the animals' real speed and acceleration. Previous research in Africa, especially in the 1960s, recorded the cheetah's top speed at 65 mph while Mr Wilson just clocked it at 30 to 40 mph.

The scientist believes cheetahs can actually go as fast as 60 mph but "on a fairly regular basis." Nevertheless, the animal is way above shoulder from its closest competitor, the greyhound and horse, when it comes to speed and agility.

"The cheetah is way out there ahead of those animals," he added. "It's really the all-around athlete, the all-around pursuit predator," Mr Wilson said.