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Interesting Features
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- A cheetah can accelerate from 0 to 45 mph in 2 seconds, and can reach a top speed of 75 mph.
- The cheetah's tail helps with balance during high-speed sprints.
- Unlike most cats, cheetahs can hardly retract their claws at all. The claws grip the ground as
they run, like the spikes on a sprinter's shoes.
- A silver vase (c.2300 BC), found in the Caucasus, shows a cheetah in a collar, which suggests
people used cheetahs then as hunting animals.
- The 16th-century Mogul emperor Akbar kept 1,000 cheetahs, which he used to hunt blackbuck.
- Cheetahs have the same body length as leopards, but stand a good 14 in (35 cm) taller on their long legs.
- The king cheetah is a color mutation and was once thought to be a separate species.
- A white cheetah with blue spots which was once owned by the Moghul emperor Jahangir.
- In the Kalahari Desert, cheetahs can survive for 10 days without water by eating wild melons.
- Young male cheetahs often hunt in small groups (coalitions), and are healthier than solitary males.
- A cheetah will chase prey that runs, but will usually leave one that stands its ground.
- If a cheetah does not catch its prey in the first 1,000 to 1,300 ft (300 to 400 m) of the chase,
it gives up and allows its heart beat to return to normal.
- Cheetahs avoid lions, which will kill them.
- Cheetahs often sit on rocks or termite mounds to get a better all-round view when resting.
- Cheetahs hiss and snarl when angry.
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Life Span:
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Cheetahs may live up to 17 years in captativity and only 10 years in the wild. In the wild, cubs are
often killed by lions and in some areas, only one in 20 is likely to survive to adulthood.
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Size:
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Cheetahs grow to about five feet long, not including their 30 to 36-inch tails. They weigh up
to about 150 pounds and stand two to three feet tall at the shoulder. Males tend to be a bit
more robust and weigh about ten pounds more than females.
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Color:
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Cheetahs are golden or yellowish colored above and on the flanks and outside legs with paler
underparts. They have solid, round, dark spots. Below, they are paler with more diffused spotting.
Their fur is generally short and dense, but longer below and with an erect mane along the shoulders
and back and have black rings near the end of the tail.
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Physical Description:
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Built more like greyhounds than typical cats, cheetahs are adapted for brief but intense bursts
of speed. They have wiry bodies and small heads. Black stripes run from their eyes down to the
corners of their mouths. Their head is proportionately small and flat on top, with dense spotting,
though the chin is white. One of their most distinctive features is the blackish tear mark running
from the eye down the side of the face. They have short ears and a short muzzle. Their tail is long
and full, being broader at the tip than the base. The upper part of the tale is spotted, while the
half has up to six dark rings. The last of these rings is the broadest, while the tip of the tail
is white.
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Distribution:
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Cheetahs were once found as far east as India and as far south as the southern tip of Africa but now
live in small, isolated populations mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and a small population in Iran. They
are very rare in southern Algeria and northern Niger, and range from Senegal east to Somalia and south
to northern South Africa. A few have been reported in Iran. However, many of their strongholds are in
eastern and southern African parks. Over the last 100 years, the cheetah's distribution has diminished
greatly and they have disappeared altogether from India. There were once about 100,000 in the wild but
numbers are now down to as few as 15,000. It has always been popular as a pet, however, and many are
kept in zoos and wildlife parks.
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Habitat:
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Cheetahs are mostly found in relatively arid habitats, ranging from bushlands and savannah to the open
and semi-open grasslands. Savannas, both open and more densely vegetated, give cheetahs the open areas
they need for quick stalks and chases. They are not found in forest areas or wetlands.
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Primary prey:
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Cheetahs eat primarily hoofed mammals weighing less than 90 pounds, including small to medium gazelles
and impala, and the young of larger species such as wildebeest and zebra. They will also eat smaller
game such as hares, warthogs, and birds. Although the cheetah is a highly successful hunter, capturing
and killing over half of all prey it chases, it is a very vulnerable cat. Because it is built for speed
rather than strength, the cheetah often gives up its kills to other tougher predators including hyenas,
leopards, and lions.
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Conservation Status:
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The cheetah is listed as vulnerable on the World Conservation Union's (IUCN's) Red List of Threatened Animals.
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Principal threats:
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Loss of habitat; illegal hunting; preyed upon by lions; low genetic variability and numerous sperm
abnormalities due to inbreeding in some populations. Sperm abnormalities result in fewer offspring
and the lack of genetic variability might make cheetah populations less resistant to a disease.
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