A cheetah can advance 7 - 8 meters in a single stride and completes 3 - 4 strides per second. A stride is the distance measured between successive imprints of the same paw. As seen in the simulation, the cheetah is completely airborne at 2 points - between meters 1 and 4 and meters 5.5 and 8. It is totally airborne about 50% of the stride. One authority has proposed that this cat could propel itself at 5 miles per hour (8 kilometers per hour) with NO LEGS!