Cheetah

Cheetah:

chç'tə, carnivore of the cat family, Acinonyx jubatus, native to Africa S of the Sahara and SW Asia as far east as India.

Formerly numerous all over their range, they are extinct now in Asia except for small numbers in Iran's Dasht-e Kavir.

Their method of hunting deviates from that of most cats in that it runs down its prey, rather than stalking it and pouncing upon it for the kill. This doglike method of hunting is suited to its habitat, which is open grassland.

The swiftest four-footed animal alive, it can achieve bursts of speed of over 60 mi (95 km) per hr and is the only animal capable of running down black bucks and gazelles.

An average cat is about 2 1 / 2 ft (75 cm) tall at the shoulder and weighs about 100 lb (45 kg). It has long legs and a tawny coat with closely spaced round black spots. It is unique among cats in having nonretractile claws.

They are tamable and were used for centuries in India for hunting game; they sometimes have been called hunting leopards.


They are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Carnivora, family Felidae.

This cat (Acinonyx jubatus) is an atypical member of the cat family (Felidae) that hunts by speed rather than by stealth or pack tactics. It is the fastest of all terrestrial animals and can reach speeds of up to 100 km/h (62 mph) in short bursts.

Description

Their fur is yellow with round black spots which help to camouflage it and black tear lines on the sides of the muzzle. The adult animal weighs from 40 to 65 kg (90 to 140 lb). Its total body length is from 112 to 135 cm (45 in to 55 in), while the tail can measure up to 84 cm (33 in).

They also have a rare fur pattern mutation, and these cats with larger, blotchy, merged spots are known as 'King Cheetahs'.

It was once thought to be a separate sub-species, but it is merely a mutation of the African species. A 'King Cheetah' has only been seen in the wild a handful of times, but they have been bred in captivity.

They are not true big cats, as they can purr as they inhale, but cannot roar. By contrast, lions, tigers, leopards, and jaguars can roar but cannot purr, except while exhaling.

However,these cats are still considered by many to be the smallest of the big cats. While it is often mistaken for a leopard, it does have distinguishing features, such as the long tear-drop shaped lines on each side of its nose that run from the corner of its eyes to its mouth.

The body frame is also very different from that of the leopard, most notably so in its thinner and extra long tail. Their coat is tan, or buff colored, with black spots measuring from ¾ to 1 ¼ inches across.

There are no spots on its white belly, and the tail has spots which merge to form four to six dark rings at the end. Their tail usually ends in a bushy white tuft.

Males are slightly larger than females and have a slightly bigger head, but it is difficult to tell males and females apart by appearance alone. They are a vulnerable species. Out of all the big cats, it is the least able to adapt to new environments.



They have always proved difficult to breed in captivity, but recently a few zoos have been successful. Once widely shot for its fur, they now suffers more from the loss of both habitat and prey.

They are considered the most primitive of all cats, and until recently was thought to have evolved approximately 18 million years ago, although new research puts the last common ancestor of all 37 existing species of feline more recently, at 11 million years.

Their natural enemies are lions and hyenas. Their paws have only semi-retractable claws, the only of its type amongst the species of cat, and offer the cat extra grip in its high-speed pursuits.

It should be noted that the ligament structure of their claws are the same as those of other cats, it simply lacks the sheath of skin and fur present in other varieties, and therefore the claws are always visible.

With the exception of the dewclaw, the claw itself is also much shorter and straighter than other cats.

Classification

It is the only cat that cannot completely retract its claws.

Even when retracted, the claws remain visible and are used for grip during their acceleration and maneuvering, performing the same function as canine claws.



The English word "cheetah" comes from Hindi chiitaa, which is perhaps derived from Sanskrit chitraka, meaning "the spotted one".

Other major European languages use variants of the medieval Latin gattus pardus, meaning "cat-leopard": French guépard; Italian ghepardo; Spanish and Portuguese guepardo (also used chita); and German Gepard.

Reproduction and social life

They acquire sexual maturity in 20 to 24 months. Mating season is throughout the year. Females give birth to one to five kittens¹ after a gestation of ninety to ninety-five days. The kittens weigh from 150 to 300 g (5 to 10 oz.) at birth.

Unlike some other cats, they are born with their characteristic spots. kittens are also born with a downy underlying fur on their necks, extending to mid-back. This gives them a mane or mohawk type appearance, this fur is shed as they grow older. Death-rate is very high during the early weeks and up to 90% of the kittens are killed during this time by lions, hyenas or even by eagles. They leave their mother between thirteen and twenty months after birth.

They can live over twenty years, but their life is often short for they lose their speed due to old age. Unlike other felines, the adult females do not have true territories and seem to avoid each other, though some mother/daughter pairs have been known to continue for small periods of time.

Males sometimes form small groups, especially when they come from the same litter. Usually these groups consist of two or three brothers. Coalitions of many males are much more successful at winning and keeping territories than the ones who live alone. Life span is up to 12 years in wild, much longer in captivity.

Cheetahs in Masai Mara game reserve, Kenya

The young are referred to as kittens because although they are considered a big cat, they are not one of the "great cats".

Great cats include lions, tigers, jaguars and leopards. The great cats are distinguished from the other big cats (cheetahs, pumas, snow leopards and clouded leopards) with their ability to purr.

The young of the 'great cats' are called cubs, while the young of other large cats are usually referred to as kittens.

Food

They are carnivores, eating mostly mammals under 40 kg (90 lb), including Thomson's gazelles,and impala. Wildebeest and calves are hunted when these cats hunt together.

Guinea fowl and hares are also hunted. While the other big cats mainly hunt by night, theis cat is a diurnal hunter. It hunts usually either early in the morning or later in the night when it is not so hot, but there is still enough light - they hunt by vision rather than by scent.

Prey is stalked to within ten to thirty meters (30-100 ft), then chased. Using their tails to maintain balance, these cats can make sharp turns if needed. The chase is usually over in less than a minute and if theis cat fails to make a quick catch, it will often give up rather than waste energy.

Another reason why they may give up is because running at such high speeds puts a great deal of strain on their bodies.

The temperature within the cat reaches such high temperatures that it would be deadly to continue, this is why they are often seen resting even after they have caught their prey.

Roughly half of the chases are successful. They kill their prey by tripping it during the chase, then biting it on the underside of the throat to suffocate it, for this cat is not strong enough to break the necks of the gazelles it mainly hunts.

Then they proceed to devour their catch as quickly as possible, for it is unable to defend itself against lions and hyenas.

The range of the cheetah

Economic importance

Because they are far less aggressive than other big cats, kittens are sometimes sold as pets. This is an illegal trade, because international conventions forbid private ownership of wild animals or species threatened with extinction.



Ancient Egyptians often kept them as pets. They were also tamed and trained for hunting.

Cheetahs would be taken to hunting fields in low-sided carts or by horseback, hooded and blind folded, and kept on leashes while dogs flushed out their prey. When the prey was near enough, the cheetahs would be released and their blind-folds removed.

This tradition was passed on to the ancient Persians and carried to India. This practice continued into the twentieth century by Indian princes. Cheetahs continued to be associated with royalty and elegance, their use as pets spreading just as their hunting skills were. Other such princes and kings kept them as pets, including Gengis Khan and Charlemagne, who boasted of having kept cheetahs within their palace grounds. As recently as the 1930's the Emperor of Abyssinia, Haile Selassie, was often photographed leading a cheetah by a leash.

Cheetahs in art and literature

- The Caress (1896), by the Belgian symbolist painter Fernand Khnopff (1858-1921), is a representation of the myth of Oedipus and the Sphinx and portrays a creature with a woman's head and a cheetah's body (often misidentified as a leopard's).

- Comic book superheroine, Wonder Woman's chief adversary is Dr. Barbara Ann Minerva, alias The Cheetah.

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