| Cheetah Facts:
Genus & Species - Acinonyx
jubatus
Family - Felidae
Order - Carnivora
Swahili Name - Duma
The word cheetah comes from the Hindu word
Chita, meaning spotted one.
The cheetah is the fastest mammal on earth.
It can reach speeds up to 65 - 70 mph over a short distance (300
yards). It can accelerate to 50 mph in 2.5 seconds. At three seconds
it has reached it's top speed. At full stretch in pursuit of it's
prey it can cover almost 33' in a single stride. It can follow
prey very closely, even at high speeds, and can change direction
in midair chasing zigzagging quarry. After a hard chase it can
be near exhaustion, it's body temperature raised to 105 degrees
Fahrenheit, and rate of breathing increased by ten times to 150
breathes a minute,and is unable to move, protect or eat its catch.
It takes it a full thirty minutes for it to cool down and regain
it's normal breathing rate.
History - The cheetah evolved
about 5.5 million years ago along with the golden cats and cougars.
Lions, tigers, leopards, and jaguars evolved about 1.6 million
years ago. The oldest fossil place it in North America in what
is now Texas, Nevada, and Wyoming. It was common throughout Asia,
Africa, Europe and North America until the end of the last Ice
Age, about 10,000 years ago, when massive climatic changes caused
large numbers of mammals to disappear.
Body - The cheetah has a
slender, long-legged body. It has a small head with high-set eyes.
Black "tear marks", which run from the corner of its eyes down
the sides of the nose to its mouth, keep the sun out of its eyes
and aid in hunting. It has weak jaws and small teeth compared
to the other big cats - the price it pays for speed. To run really
fast requires lots of oxygen and to breathe in lots of oxygen
the cheetah needs very large nasal passages, this leaves no space
for the long roots required to anchor big teeth. And thus it is
not able to fight larger predators to protect its food or young.
The cheetah's flexible spine, oversized liver, enlarged heart,
increased lung capacity, and thin muscular body make this cat
the swiftest hunter in Africa.
Weight - Males: 63 - 143
lbs
Females:
46 - 139 lbs
Length - Males: 68"
- 88" nose to tail
Females:
67" - 93" nose to tail
Shoulder height - Males:
29" - 37"
Females:
26" - 33"
Tail - The long tail helps
balance the cheetah's body as it twists and turns at very high
speeds.
Claws - The cheetah is often
quoted as having non-retractile claws. This is not true. Most
cats have sheaths of skin that the claws retract back into when
not in use. The cheetah has no such modification, so the claws
are always visible, although they can still be retracted. However
they tend to become dull since they are always out. Because of
this cheetahs are not very good tree climbers. The claws work
like a runners cleats. The equivalent of the thumb, the dew claw
on the animals wrist, is used when it gets close to its prey.
The cat will side-swipe the prey with a fore-leg and hook it with
the dew claw causing the animal to tumble over; the cheetah is
then able to grab the throat and suffocate the creature as its
jaws are not strong enough to give a crushing bite. When cheetahs
were used for hunting, if an animal had a blunt dew claw, it was
not as successful at bringing down the animal it was set against
according to hunting records of Indian nobles.
Coat - Its coat is tan with small, round, black spots, and
the fur is coarse and short. The coat provides camouflage for
this daytime hunter, breaking up its outline among the tall grass.
They are very easy to distinguish
from the other African spotted cat, the leopard, because they
look so different. They have spots, whereas the leopard has rosettes.
The cheetah is much smaller and thinner, and its legs are longer
and very thin, where the leopard is much heavier and more muscular.
The cheetah's head and muzzle is more rounded and smaller than
the leopards, and the leopard can jump up in trees and stalk on
the ground, whereas the cheetah is restricted to staying on the
ground.
Sound - Cheetah sounds include
purrs, bleats, barks, growls, hisses and chirps - but no ROAR-R-R!!
Many of their sounds are totally unlike those of any other cat.
Chirping: like a bird's chirp or a dog's yelp - an intense chirp
that can be heard a mile away! Click here to hear the sound of
a cheetah -
Mating Season - Throughout
the year
Gestation Period - 90 -
95 days
Number Of Young - Up to
9, but usually 3 - 5. Cheetah cubs are born with long gray fur.
Some naturalists think that this mimics the ratel, a fierce relative
of the badger that few animals dare attack.
 
Prey - Cheetahs eat small
antelope - Springbok, Steenbok, Duickers, Impala and Gazelle,
the young of larger animals - Warthog, kudu, Hartebeest, Oryx,
Roan and Sable, as well as game birds and rabbits. Their favorite
is the Thompson's Gazelle which is common on the east African
plains. Cheetahs are very picky eaters and unlike the other big
cats will not eat carrion (Decaying meat). They need to eat 6
pounds of meat a day.
Hunting (Chase, trip, bite) - While
most cats are nocturnal predators, the cheetah is primarily diurnal,
hunting in early morning and late afternoon. Since it depends
on sight rather than smell, it likes to scan the countryside from
a tree limb or the top of a termite mound. The cheetah stalks
it's prey to within 100 yards or so, then starts it's sprint.
With each giant stride it gains on the fleeing gazelle. When it
is close enough it lashes out at the gazelle's hind legs with
a clawed paw. Knocked off balance, the gazelle stumbles to the
ground and the cat leaps in to kill. In a split second it has
the gazelle by the throat, its jaws clamped tightly in a suffocating
bite. Their success rate at hunting is slightly better than 70%,
which is higher than most of the other larger predators. Cheetahs,
though having a high success rate, will often lose their kill
to other carnivores like lions, leopards, hyenas and hunting dogs.
All four species will also kill cheetahs and their young. Cheetahs
are not aggressive and prefer flight to fight than risk being
injured, which would make them unable to hunt.
Range - Not long ago cheetahs
inhabited an area from North Africa to India, but they are now
commonly found only in sub-Saharan Africa (south of the Sahara
Dessert). Their range includes sparse sub-desert plains, medium
and long-grass plains. They need an environment with bushes, tall
grass, and other large plants in order to hide from predators.
In 1975 there were approximately 30,000 cheetahs in Africa. Today
there are 9 - 12,000 left in the wild in small populations in
Africa (the most in Namibia). Throughout Africa, cheetahs are
often pushed out of wildlife reserves due to increased competition
from other, more dominant predators. Therefore, a large percentage
of the remaining cheetahs are outside of protected areas, where
they are in greater conflict with humans, and in greater danger.
Past Distribution
Present Distribution
Subspecies -There are seven
subspecies of cheetah; five in Africa and two in Asia.
The five subspecies in Africa are:
Acinonyx jubatus jubatus
- southern Africa, 500 individuals.
Acinonyx jubatus raineyi - Kenya, total with
next three subspecies is less than 3,000.
Acinonyx jubatus ngorongorensis - Tanzania and
Republic Of The Congo
Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii - Nigeria to Somalia
Acinonyx jubatus hecki - Algeria
The two subspecies in Asia are:
Acinonyx jubatus raddei
- Caspian Sea area, extremely rare, thought to be extinct.
Acinonyx jubatus venaticus - India and Middle
East, becoming more rare, as few as 50 in the wild.
European and Asian royalty have hunted it
to the point of near extinction. Today they exist in small isolated
groups, in northeastern Iran. The Khosh Yeilagn Protected Area
in Iran is thought to contain the highest population of Asiatic
cheetah.
 Asiatic
Cheetah in Iran
| Young Asiatic cheetah crouching in the snow.
Iran is the only place within cheetah range where
it snows in winter. |
 Saharan
cheetah
King cheetah - A genetic
variation of the normal cheetah with heavy black markings and
larger spots. It is not a separate species as once speculated.
There are approximately 35 living in captivity. The last one that
was seen in the wild was in 1975.
 King
Cheetah
Socialization - Two groups exist
in wild populations: the family group and males. Males, often
brothers, usually form a coalition of 2 or 3; only rarely will
a male live alone. This coalition will live and hunt together
for life claiming a range which may overlap several female territories.
Young males seek out an area at a great distance from their parent;
sometimes as far as 300 miles (482 kilometers). The average size
of male territories is 37.4 square kilometers. If another male
enters the territory of an established group, a fight may start,
sometimes resulting in the death of the intruder. Females, however,
usually occupy the same range as their mother although ALL females
are solitary except when they have a litter. Average female home
ranges extend to 833 square kilometers. Males and females mix
only to mate: a female raises her cubs alone. The female is not
aggressive to others of her kind, preferring retreat to attack.
Male cheetahs mark trees to mark out territories.
Kind of a "message center" a male cheetah will come to a particular
tree to determine what other cheetahs are in the area, and a female
cheetah will come to the tree to see if there are any eligible
males available for mating. With all these cheetahs in these trees,
they've become known as "play trees".
Life span - Up to 21 years
in captivity, probably no more than 12 years in the wild.
Current Status & Threat
- The primary reason for the cheetah's decline is shrinking range
due to habitat loss all over Africa.
Drastic increases in human population and
proliferation of domestic animals has led to loss of habitat and
prey, and conflict with man.
Increased livestock in arid areas compete with wildlife for limited
grazing, further reducing prey available for the cheetah to hunt.
The cheetah, being very sensitive to human
disruption in its surroundings, has a more difficult time adapting
to the presence of man than other cats.
Many people fear large predators and carnivores and respond by
eliminating them. People incorrectly view the cheetah as a wanton
killer of livestock and wild game, while in reality, the amount
of damage to domestic stock is exaggerated and usually caused
by a few problem animals and inadequate farming practices.
Ranchers and farmers often see cheetah as
pests or vermin. Stock losses to predators are greater where the
natural prey base has been eliminated or reduced.
Past capture of wild cheetah for private use has led to the near
extinction of the Asian population. Cheetahs don't breed well
in captivity and removal of individuals reduces genetic diversity
in the wild.
Though the cheetah's skin was never in demand like the leopard's,
during the 1960s, 1, 500 cheetah skins entered the U.S. every
year to be made into coats, shoes and handbags. In 1972, one furrier
in New York City was found with nearly 2, 000 cheetah pelts.
Because it is low in the predator hierarchy, the cheetah faces
competition from other predators and does not do well in parks
and reserves with large lion and hyena populations. As a result,
most cheetahs live outside protected areas.
Inter specific competition with other large
predators takes the form of direct predation on cubs, occasional
killing of adults, and loss of kills.
Being a daytime hunter, the cheetah is an
easier target than other predators for harassment by tourists.
In many parks and reserves, tourist vehicles routinely disrupt
cheetah hunts.
 
As Pets - The Sumerians were
the first people known to tame cheetahs while the Egyptians actually
deified them. Marco Polo noted that many were kept as pets in
the Orient, far beyond their native range. Three historical figures
are documented as having pet cheetahs: Genghis Khan, Akbar the
Great of India and Charlemagne. During his 45 year reign (1555-1600
AD) Akbar reportedly kept 1,000 cheetahs and attempted to breed
them. But, for all his efforts, only 1 litter was produced. Cheetahs
are easily tamed and can even be taught to play games like "fetch".
But they cannot be housebroken; even a wild cheetah will soil
its resting place since it is very mobile and has no true lair.
Sportsmen once used them for coursing - hunting by sight as opposed
to scent. Typically the hooded cheetah was carried on horseback
or in a cart. When the hunted animal came near the hood was removed
and the cheetah released. If the cheetah then caught the animal
it was rewarded with some small part of the prey or a dish of
blood.
In national parks where they get used to seeing people they have
been known to actually jump up on top of vehicles entering the
park. A hunting animal may even commandeer a roof to sight prey.
The future for Africa's high-speed
cat depends largely on people's attitudes. Predators such as the
cheetah play an important role in the ecosystem. They prey on
animals that are sick and weak, and ensure the strong genes survive.
This actually helps keep the herd strong and healthy.
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