The best leaper in the animal kingdom is the puma, which can jump to a height of 12 ft when leaving the ground at an angle of 45 degrees. with what speed in si units, must the animal leave the ground to reach that height?

First, transform the height to SI unit (meter):
1 feet = 0.3048 m
12 feet = 12 x 0.3048 = 3.6576 m

For a vertical jump:
velocity = sqrt(2gh) = sqrt(2 x 9.8 x 3.6576) = 8.4669 meter/second

Therefore, at an angle of 45 degrees:
velocity = vertical velocity / sin(45)
             = 8.4669 / sin(45) 
             = 11.974 meter/second