Cheetahs
Cheetahs are a species of large cat renowned for being the fastest land animals, capable of reaching speeds up to 71 miles per hour over short distances. Native to sub-Saharan Africa and a small region in northern Iran, their populations have drastically declined due to habitat loss and human activities. Cheetahs have distinctive physical features, including a slender body, long legs, a small head, and a coat patterned with black spots. They primarily inhabit areas with tall grass and shrubs, where they use their keen eyesight to hunt during the early morning and late afternoon.
Mature cheetahs weigh between 110 and 130 pounds and possess unique adaptations such as semiretractable claws for traction during high-speed chases. Their social structure varies, with males often forming coalitions, while females tend to be solitary, especially when raising cubs. Cheetah reproduction involves a gestation period of three months, typically resulting in litters of three to five cubs. Despite their speed and agility, they face significant threats, including predation from lions and high infant mortality rates. As they continue to adapt to dwindling habitats, conservation efforts are crucial for their survival.
Cheetahs
The cheetah is a species of large cat, famous as the fastest land animal. It is native to parts of Africa and Asia, although its range has declined steadily due to habitat loss and other threats. Cheetahs are also popular in zoos around the world.
Quick Facts
- Classification:
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Subkingdom: Acinonychinae
- Phylum: Chordata
- Subphylum: Vertebrata
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Carnivora
- Family:Felidae (cats)
- Genus and species: Acinonyx jubatus
- Geographical location: Sub-Saharan Africa and northern Iran
- Habitat: Areas with tall grass and shrubs, or areas with elevated points
- Gestational period: Three months
- Life span: Up to twelve years in the wild, seventeen in captivity
- Special anatomy: Body is approximately four feet long; long, thin legs; a tail about half as long as the total body; a deep, narrow chest; small round skull; rounded ears set far back; large nasal passages and lungs; large heart, adrenals, and arteries; spine gives spring for back legs
Except for rare mutations, cheetahs (whose name is the Hindi for “spotted ones”) have tawny or grayish white coats covered with round or oval black spots roughly an inch in diameter, located everywhere except for the throat and abdomen. The hair on the coarse coats is slightly longer at the nape, and the tail has four to six black rings (distinctive to each cheetah) and a white tuft at the end. Cheetahs purr, yelp, and bark rather than roar, owing to the lack of an ossified hyoid.
Cheetahs have long bodies and legs and a small domed head with high set eyes, short ears, and a black line (resembling a teardrop) that runs from each eye down to the mouth. These lines aid vision by reducing solar glare. The whiskers are smaller than those of most cats, but cheetahs hunt by sight alone.
Mature cheetahs weigh between 110 and 130 pounds and reach an average height of thirty-two inches at the shoulder, while their bodies extend to roughly fifty inches in length. Male cheetahs are slightly larger than females, but both sexes have small teeth and large lungs and nasal passages which produce a high volume of oxygen. One set of leg muscles is designed for walking, while another is for high-speed sprinting. Cheetah paws are round and hard, and have semiretractable claws that provide traction during sprints and help the cheetah make quick turns. By a combination of running and leaping, the cheetah can accelerate from 0 to 45 miles per hour in two seconds, and can reach recorded speeds of up to 71 miles per hour—but for no more than 300 yards.
Habitat and Behavior
In prehistoric times, the cheetah was found throughout most of the world. While it was eradicated in North America and Europe during the last Ice Age, it survived in Africa and to a lesser extent in Asia. However, the isolation of its small population created genetic problems, including high susceptibility to many diseases, because close relatives must mate. In the modern era, cheetah populations faced additional pressures from human activity, and their numbers and range declined significantly. The species was wiped out in India by the early 1950s, leaving a small group in Iran as the only native Asian population. (In the 2020s, a program experimented with reintroducing African cheetahs in India.)
Cheetahs are not usually found in forest habitats but are mostly found in the drier parts of sub-Saharan Africa (especially Namibia and Ethiopia). Though they are frequently observed on open, grassy plains, they also appear in bush, scrub, and woodlands. They can adapt to arid environments, having the ability to travel an average of fifty miles between drinks of water. The blood or urine of prey satisfies their thirst, as does the flesh of tsama melons.
Unlike lions, cheetahs hunt in early morning and late afternoon. They scan the countryside from a high place such as a tree limb, the top of a termite mound, or even the roof of a safari car. Being carnivores, they feed primarily on gazelles, impalas, game birds, rabbits, and the young of warthogs, kudu, hartebeest, oryx, roan, and sable. Once they have located prey that has somehow strayed from its group, they approach stealthily to within fifty yards before sprinting. Their sprints, though extremely swift, are brief, lasting anywhere from a few seconds to a minute. Most hunts are unsuccessful, but in successful ones, the cheetahs knock down their prey by the force of their charge or trip it, and strangle it by seizing the throat. Smaller prey are killed by a bite through the skull. A female with cubs hunts daily, whereas lone adults hunt every two to five days. Cheetahs eat quickly because they fear challenges from lions and hyenas, and they often haul their prey to high branches of trees.
Male cheetahs form coalitions to help them in hunting prey and defending territory. Unrelated males are sometimes accepted into coalitions, but lone males can secure territory only if there are no coalitions nearby. Unlike males, female cheetahs leave their natal groups, though they do occupy the same home range as their mothers. Also unlike males, they are solitary, except when they have new litters. Males and females mix to mate, but only females rear cubs. Life spans in the wild average seven years.
Reproduction
Cheetahs reach sexual maturity in two years. Being polyestrous, females have an average reproductive cycle of twelve days, with fertility lasting from one to three days. Gestation lasts about three months, and litters usually number three to five cubs, though some have as few as one and as many as eight. Newborn cubs are about a foot long and weigh less than half a pound. They have a mantle of hair along their back that helps camouflage them in the grass, but this mantle eventually disappears.
Mothers move their cubs every few days to avoid predators. However, infant mortality rates can be as high as 90 percent, with lions being the biggest killers. Cubs are weaned at 3 to 6 months, but usually remain with their mothers between 1 and 1.5 years, while she teaches them how to hunt and kill prey.
Principal Terms
gestation: pregnancy or the term of carrying young in the womb
hyoid: central part of the arch which joins the tongue to the skull
mutations: sudden variations of inherited characteristics
polyestrous: multiple sexual heats or periods of sexual excitement
Bibliography
"About Cheetahs." Cheetah Conservation Fund, cheetah.org/learn/about-cheetahs/. Accessed 9 July 2024.
Caro, Timothy M. Cheetahs of the Serengeti Plains. U of Chicago P, 1994.
"Cheetah." Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute, nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/cheetah. Accessed 9 July 2024.
Esbensen, Barbara J. Swift as the Wind: The Cheetah. Orchard, 1996.
Green, Richard.Wild Cat Species of the World. Basset, 1991.
Seidensticker, J., and S. Lumpkin, eds. Great Cats. Rodale, 1991.