🐾 Cheetah

Cheetah

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Who it is

• Scientific name: Acinonyx jubatus
• Family & relatives: The only living member of its genus, Acinonyx; its closest relatives are the cougar and the jaguarundi, not the roaring big cats.
• How to spot it: A slim, long-legged cat with a small head, solid round black spots, and two black 'tear' lines running from the eyes to the mouth.

Its body & abilities

• Size: About 1.1 to 1.5 meters in body length plus a tail of 60 to 80 cm, standing roughly 70 to 90 cm at the shoulder.
• Weight: Adults weigh about 21 to 72 kg, with males usually a bit heavier than females.
• Body & adaptations: A flexible spine, long legs, enlarged heart and lungs, and semi-retractable claws that grip the ground like running spikes.
• Top speed: The fastest land animal, sprinting up to about 110 km/h in short bursts of a few hundred meters.
• Strength: Explosive acceleration: it can reach 100 km/h from a standstill in around three seconds, faster than most sports cars.
• Senses: Superb daytime eyesight scans the plains for prey, aided by the black tear lines that cut glare like a footballer's face paint.
• Growing up: Cubs are born blind with a silvery mane, follow their mother at about six weeks, and become independent by 18 to 24 months.

Where it lives

• Habitat: Open grasslands, savannas, and semi-desert scrub where it has room to run down prey.
• Where in the world: Scattered across sub-Saharan Africa, with a tiny, critically endangered population in Iran.
• Territory: Males may hold small territories alone or in coalitions, while females roam large overlapping home ranges of hundreds of square kilometers.

What it eats

• Diet: A pure carnivore that gets much of its water from prey and can go days between drinks.
• Favorite foods: Mostly small to medium antelope such as gazelles and impala, plus hares and young of larger animals.
• How it hunts: It stalks close, then unleashes a high-speed chase and trips prey with a paw before a suffocating throat bite.

How it behaves

• How it moves: Built to run in long bounds where all four feet leave the ground twice per stride, using its tail as a rudder to turn.
• When it is active: Mainly active by day, especially early morning and late afternoon, to avoid competition with lions and hyenas.
• Family life: Females are solitary, but related males often live in lifelong bands called coalitions.
• How it talks: It cannot roar; instead it chirps like a bird, purrs, growls, and marks trees and rocks with scent.
• Babies: After about 90 to 95 days of gestation, the female gives birth to three to five cubs and raises them alone.

Its place in nature

• Role in nature: A specialized daytime predator that controls antelope numbers; its cubs are often killed by lions, hyenas, and eagles.
• Conservation: Listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, threatened by habitat loss, low genetic diversity, and conflict with farmers.
• Dangers: Very high cub mortality from predators, plus adult losses to habitat loss, road accidents, and the illegal pet trade.

Life & legacy

• How long it lives: Around 10 to 12 years in the wild and up to about 17 years in captivity.
• In our culture: Revered in ancient Egypt and once kept as hunting companions by royalty and nobles across Asia and Africa.
• Where to see it: Seen on safari in Serengeti, Maasai Mara, and Kruger, and in many large zoos and wildlife parks.
• Fun fact: A cheetah's spine works like a spring, stretching and coiling so much that each huge stride covers about seven meters.