Cheetah Pictures, Information and Facts

Cheetahs are the fastest land animals in the world. A cheetah's body is slender, graceful and light. Its fur is tawny with black-spots. The cheetah's spots help it to blend into the background to hide from potential prey. Their faces have a dark line running from each eye to the corners of their mouths. This helps them see across the grasslands in the glare of the hot sun. Ball players use often place a similar black line around their eyes to reduce the glare of the sun. Unlike other big cats, the Cheetah can't retract its claws.

Every part of a cheetah's body is built to maximize its speed. This big cat can sprint at 70 mph or 110km/h. It uses its tail as a counter balance when running which allows it to zigzag as they run like the gazelles that they hunt. Even with this speed and agility, only about half of the chases, which generally last a minute or less, are successful.

Though many big cats rely on strength, the cheetah survives out in the wild relying on its speed. It is a cheetahs' speed and maneuverability that gives it the ability to catch its fast prey.

The Cheetah is a predator but it is not built for combat. It is built only to catch and kill. It’s speed allows it to outrun other predators. The Cheetah will often give up its kill to a larger predator to avoid confrontation with a stronger fighter.

A Cheetahs' life span is up to twelve years in the wild, but range up to 20 years in captivity. In the wild, mother Cheetahs have two or three cubs at a time. When she goes hunting she hides the cubs in the thick grass. The mother teaches the cubs to hunt and by the time they are a year old the young cheetahs can take care of themselves and they set out alone on the savanna.

Interesting Cheetah Facts:

Full grown Cheetahs can weigh from 39-65kgs.
A Cheetahs' body often stretches out to over 2 meters.
They can go from 0 to 100km/h in 3 seconds.
Unlike Tigers and other big cats, Cheetahs will only attack small to medium sized animals.

More Cheetah Facts:

Due to the fact that its claws do not retract the Cheetah was originally classified in the dog family rather than the cat family.
When Cheetahs are pursuing prey, they use their tails to help them steer. The tail works like the rudder of a boat to help steer.
After any chase, a Cheetah must rest for 30 minutes. During this time the cheetah is almost defenseless.
The Ancient Egyptians were known to keep cheetahs as pets.

Cheetah Information

Where they live: Most areas of Africa and parts of the Middle East.

What they eat: Being a carnivore, a cheetah will eat almost any mammal under 88 pounds. This includes both Thomson and Grant gazelle, as well as the impala and the springbrok. The young of animals such as the zebra and wildebeest are also hunted. Cheetahs will also hunt adult wildebeests and zebras when hunting in a group. Smaller prey, such as hares and guineafowl, are hunted as well.

Cheetahs are diurnal, hunting most often early in the morning or later toward dusk, unlike most big cats, which hunt mainly at night. The cheetah hunts at these times mainly due to the decreased heat, as the Cheetah's high rate of speed causes its body temperature to rise significantly when it sprints for short distances to chase down and kill its prey. There is also some light left during these hunting times, which helps the Cheetah since it hunts by sight and not scent.

Family structure: Female cheetahs typically give birth to up to nine cubs. The cubs generally weigh between 5.3 and 11 ounces when born. Born with their spots, cheetah cubs are also born with a mantle around their neck that extends to its mid-back. This mane is believed to be an evolutionary adaptation to give the cheetah cubs the appearance of a ratel or honey badger (a land animal prevalent in Africa known for its ferociousness in defending itself). Once potential predators see this mane, they are oftentimes scared away. Leaving their mothers between 13 and 20 months after birth, the average lifespan of a cheetah is approximately 12 years in the wild, and up to 20 years for those in captivity.

Habitat: Preferring to live in open areas, such as semi-deserts, prairies, and locations containing thick brush, the cheetah does best in large expanses of land with plentiful prey. Able to live in a variety of habitats, their choice of habitat depends on what is available and where other predators might be prevalent. In Namibia, cheetahs live on the savannahs, in areas of dense vegetation and even in mountainous terrain.

Endangered status: Considered as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the cheetah is also on the US Endangered Species Act as a threatened species. They are also listed in CITES Appendix I and are considered threatened with extinction.

Physical Characteristics

Standing about three feet tall at the shoulders, cheetahs bodies are made for sprinting short distances. They have a deep chest and a narrow waste, weighing in at 77 to 160 pounds. Its fur is short, coarse and tan with round black spots that function as camouflage while hunting. The spots eventually merge toward the end of the tail, forming four to six dark rings at the end. The tail has a bushy, white tuft. The cheetah's head is small, and the animal is characterized with high-set eyes and short black tear-like markings from the corner of the eye, down the sides of its nose and to its mouth. These markings keep the sun out of its eyes and aid it while hunting.

While the cheetah is one of the fastest land animals known to man, being able to attain speeds in excess of 70 mph, it is not a long-distance runner. When running at high speeds for any length of time, a cheetah must rest, as its body temperature is elevated due to the strain of running at such speeds. It does have large nostrils that allow it to take in more oxygen, which in turn fuels its enlarged lungs. This coupled with the overlarge heart that a cheetah has, enables it to attain its high speeds, mainly because of the increased oxygen circulation. Cheetahs are even said to be able to go from 0 to 60 mph in three seconds. The claws of the cheetah are semi-retractable, unlike most big cats. This allows them added traction and helps them get to their high speeds quickly.

Cheetahs are unable to roar like all the other big cats, but they are able to purr, a trait which most other big cats lack.