Sensory Process
Although it seems like with the ability to run as quick as they can, cheetahs don't need any other specialty when it comes to hunting but that's a wrong assumption, in fact, their sensory system plays a huge role in terms of their survival rate in the environment they thrive under. As mentioned in the locomotion topic when cheetahs hunt, every aspect of their body moves in coordination such as their legs, their back, and their muscles but you will notice that it’s hardly moving at all. Why do you think so? Well, although there might be other factors relating to keeping its head
still, the main reason why cheetahs are able to perform this is purely due to its sensory, in particular its ears. In the cheetah's inner ear, there are 3 semicircular canals that obtain fluid and sensorial hair cells that can determine the motion of its head and is responsible for the balance of its body. The semicircular canal system directs a powerful functional wave that correlates to head movement and running agility (Spoor, Fred, et al 2007). Cheetah's inner ear is
different when comparing with other felids in that their inner ear anatomy gives them great responsiveness and additional quick responses to the cranial motions which explain how and why cheetahs are able to lock on to their specific chosen prey even in the course of the lightning-quick chase. Because of the advanced technologies that we have today, we are able to obtain the knowledge that there was a separation of locomotor and sensory system adaptations to fast-moving hunt.
Cheetahs have displayed an advancement of eye sights, S-cones to be exact. They have more S-cones compared to any other animals in the Felidae family. Upon observing the graph below where the meridian cone density abides alongside nasal meridian which is distinguished by the arrow. The cheetahs enlarge nasal
meridian with elevated meridian-cone solidity permits for the continual scanning of the visual prey at lofty angular speed.
There were cases reported of several cheetahs in captivity whose central retinal degenerated which ultimately led them to become blind and were anesthetized. When conducted an ophthalmologic examination, vets found out that "the pupillary
light reflexes were absent" (Ofri, Ron, 1996), which they found out later was due to taurine deficiency which degenerated the retinal. Although they weren't able to regenerate the visions of the cheetahs that had lost some visions, they were able to provide taurine supplements to cheetahs to prevent their visions from worsening. Overall, the sensory process of the cheetah plays a huge role in terms of them stalking prey or evading predators such as lions and hyenas even if they are in the middle of consuming prey. Cheetahs are often the victims of kleptoparasitism (Hunter, J.S, 2007).
