The cheetah is a mammalian predator of the cat family, the genus cheetah. Almost everyone knows that this beast is the fastest in the world. What else is known about these spotted animals?

Description, appearance

The cheetah is a beautiful animal: a long, slender body seems fragile, but the animal's muscles are well developed. Although the animal belongs to the cat, but the structure of the body is a bit like a dog. The legs are long, rather thin, but strong, and the claws, as is usually the case with cats, do not retract into the paws while running - this is intended by nature so that the animal has good grip with earth's surface, claws play the role of spikes. The head is not very large, the eyes are set high, which is more typical for dogs, the rounded ears are small.

The body of a cheetah is not very long. But not short either - from 1 meter 20 centimeters to one and a half meters, the height is from about 65 centimeters to one meter. The length of the tail is half the length of the body - 65-75 centimeters, the cheetah weighs from 45 to 70-75 kilograms.

The fur is short, not very thick, the color of coastal sand, the whole skin (except the belly) is strewn with black spots of the most different sizes and forms. Sometimes in the area of ​​​​the head and the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe withers, males may have a kind of mane, consisting of short, stiff hair. In young cheetahs up to 2.5 months, everyone has this mane, but in many it falls out. And there are lucky ones who have left.

A distinctive decoration of the muzzle are the so-called "tear marks" - two black stripes running from the eye to the mouth. They are applied by nature with a specific purpose - thanks to them, the animal better focuses its eyes on the intended prey when hunting. And these marks also protect the predator's eyes from bright sunlight, preventing it from going blind when looking at the sun.

Where does it live

The main habitat is Africa. And it covers the entire continent. As you might guess, it lives in deserts and savannahs with a flat terrain. Prefers open areas, not a fan of ambushes.

There are also cheetahs living in Asia. Once upon a time, many Asian regions could boast of having these proud animals in their countries. They lived in Egypt, United United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan and other countries. But they were exterminated by man and now live only in Iran.

The cheetah is diurnal and active only when sunlight, that is, during the day. And he also prefers to hunt in the daytime, or rather, either on a cool morning or in the evening, but always before dusk. After all, he looks out for prey visually, and not with the help of smell, so he definitely needs light. At night, the beast hunts quite rarely.

The method used by the cheetah for hunting is rather unusual: while most felines guard the future victim, being in ambush, the spotted animal reaches the potential prey, chasing it. First, it looks out for an object for hunting, lying on a high hill or in thickets of bushes. Noticing a potential victim, he tries to creep up as far as possible without too much noise. close quarters. After that, he quickly jumps up and overtakes an unsuspecting animal. The cheetah runs very fast, alternating running with long long jumps. When there is a chase, the cheetah repeatedly changes the trajectory of the run, deceiving and misleading the victim.

It is necessary to hunt with this method due to the fact that the open area where cheetahs live does not provide conditions for finding shelter and making an ambush. Therefore, in order to be full, the beast has to arrange short quick races. Having caught up and overtaken the prey, the predator knocks it down, hitting it with a powerful front paw, and then begins to strangle it. He squeezes the neck of the prey until the animal stops breathing.

The speed of a cheetah is more than 100 km/h. The maximum officially registered speed is 112 kilometers per hour.

Although the beast has a rather large lung capacity, such a frantic speed exhausts it. If the victim was not caught after 200-400 meters, then the animal does not pursue it anymore. And if the hunt ended successfully, then while the cheetah takes a breath and restores strength, other animals jump up to him and, taking advantage of the weakness of the hunter, steal the well-deserved prey.

What does a cheetah eat

Basically, the cheetah hunts ungulates: wildebeest, zebras, gazelles. Hares that come into view also attract attention and become dinner. And when cheetahs hunt in a group, even the swift-footed large ostriches are not able to escape from predators.

Cheetahs do not have the habit of eating carrion, even if they hide the prey in the bushes and tear off only a piece from it, they do not return to it anymore. Easier and easier to hunt for new prey. And the food hidden in the bushes remains there, though not for long - there are enough hunters to eat the abandoned and hidden in the desert. Hyenas, leopards, sometimes even lions turn out to be applicants.

reproduction

The marriage period begins in different ways, there is no clearly defined period. When the year comes, males gather in small - 2-5 animals - groups. Usually there are cheetah brothers that have reached the age of maturity. Such a clan protects the territory with future partners from encroachments of males from outside.

Females reach puberty at 2 years, sometimes a little later, but estrus begins earlier - at about a year and a half. Another feature of these animals is that the female begins ovulation only in one case - when the male starts to run after her. And to run literally, physically. During mating games cheetahs arrange long long races. In all likelihood, this fact is the reason why they do not breed in captivity - there are no conditions in zoos to run around.

A cheetah's pregnancy lasts about three months— from 85 to 95 days. Several children are born - maybe up to 6 pieces. Cubs are born blind, eyes open only after 10-15 days. The coat of small predators is long, and so that the mother can easily find them in a colorless area, it has a gray-blue color. There are no spots characteristic of cheetahs on the skin of babies - they appear a little later. The babies are decorated with peculiar identification marks: a black-brown mane grows on the head, and the end of the tail is equipped with a dark tassel. Somewhere in the fourth month of life, these signs disappear.

Up to three or four months, the mother feeds the offspring with milk, and then the parents slowly add meat to the diet. The mother takes care of the upbringing, the children are next to her for a whole year. The father does not bring up the offspring, but if something happens to the mother, he replaces her, becoming a good educator and mentor.

But, unfortunately, parental care does not help many cheetahs to live even to a year. Some children eat more strong predators, and many kittens are in wait for genetic diseases from which they die.

The reason for these diseases is that old times upon the onset ice age most of the animals died, and the cheetahs were also close to this. There were only a few of them left, and they were relatives. Perhaps this is the cause of the disease.

The difference between cheetahs and leopards

Often people confuse two animals - a cheetah and a leopard. Both of these species are included in the class of mammals, both predators, both are related to cats. Only the genera are different: leopards are panthers, and cheetahs are a genus of cheetahs. Main differences:

  1. The body of both animals is slender and flexible. Only the cheetah stretches up to one and a half meters, and the leopard boasts 180 centimeters. And the leopard tail will be longer - up to 110 centimeters against the short tail of a cheetah - only 75 cm.
  2. This important difference can be seen by watching the run. The speed of the cheetah is over 100 kilometers per hour, while the leopard is much slower - even at short distances it cannot run faster than 60 km / h.
  3. The leopard takes prey in its teeth and climbs a tree to feast. The cheetah has no such habit.
  4. In a leopard, like in most cats, the claws retract, while in a cheetah they retract a little - the main part remains outside.
  5. The cheetah prefers to rest at night, hunting only during the day. The leopard, on the other hand, goes hunting at dusk or at night.
  6. A cheetah can also hunt in a pack, while a leopard is a solitary hunter.
  7. The muzzle of the cheetah is decorated hallmark- black stripes go from the eyes in the direction of the mouth. The leopard is deprived of such a sign.
  8. The spots that adorn the cheetah skin are clear, but they do not form or create any patterns. On the skin of a leopard, the spots are collected in rosettes, and they can also merge with each other and be solid.
  9. In leopards, babies are born with a spotted skin, while small cheetahs acquire spots later.
  10. The cheetah lives in savannas and deserts, preferring flat terrain. The leopard lives not only in the savannas, but in forests, floodplains and in mountainous areas.
  11. The leopard has a much wider range of habitat. The cheetah lives only on the African continent, and in small numbers in Iran, and the geography of the leopard's residence is much larger: in Africa, India, countries adjacent to Hindustan, in the north and south of China, in Asia, on Far East etc.

Subspecies

There are five subspecies of cheetahs in total. Africa is inhabited by four of them and one in Asia. More than four thousand species live on the African continent, and the Asiatic cheetah is very few. In total, there are, according to various estimates, from 10 to 60 animals living in natural conditions, mainly in Pakistan and the mountains of Afghanistan. About two dozen live in zoos. The Asian subspecies differs from the African not very much: the paws are shorter, the neck is more powerful and the skin is thicker.

King cheetah and other colors
Mutations in genetics lead to a change in the usual colors of cheetahs. So, the royal cheetah has a special color. Longitudinal dark stripes run through the entire back, large black spots merge together on the sides. Not only royal cheetahs have an unusual color. In nature, there are many other predators, such as:

  1. Albino cheetahs are completely white.
  2. Absolutely black cheetahs with barely noticeable spots (the so-called melanism).
  3. Cheetahs are red in color with reddish or yellow-brown hair with pale scarlet spots.

In the deserts there are also animals with a dull and very faded coat color. Most likely, the point here is disguise and adaptability to life under the hot rays of the sun.

Lifespan

Under natural conditions, cheetahs live up to 18-20 years, sometimes they live up to 25 years. In captivity, where others Better conditions for life and good medicine, they can live much longer.

It happens that a cheetah chases a victim over and over again, but the attempts end in failure. After a dozen of these failed attempts In a row, the beast can die from a lack of food, because it will completely exhaust its strength.

When the next attack ends unsuccessfully, the cheetah immediately stops without wasting strength. As soon as the animal runs at a maximum pace for at least half a minute, it will fall from the resulting heat stroke, because while the animal is running, the body produces a lot of heat.

Sometimes in natural conditions, a cheetah encounters lions. Not having time to escape, the cheetah usually remains defeated - the forces are not equal. The cheetah has only one way to escape - to run away quickly.

It is interesting! Hunters ancient egypt tamed cheetahs and used instead of assistants during the hunt.

A cheetah can go without food for about a week.

Communicating with each other, they make not cat sounds, and not even dog ones. Their communication is reminiscent of bird chirping.

Cheetahs are very well adapted to life in dry areas. So, an adult animal can do without water for several days.

There are many predators in Africa, the weakest of them is our hero, the cheetah. There are many cases when he became a victim of alligators.

Video: cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)

Acinonyx jubatus) - predatory mammal animal, belongs to the cat family, genus cheetah ( Acinonyx). Today it is the only surviving species. The cheetah is the fastest animal in the world: when chasing prey, it can reach speeds of up to 112 kilometers per hour.

Cheetah - description, structure, characteristics

The body of the cheetah is elongated, rather slender and graceful, but, despite the apparent fragility, the beast has well-developed muscles. The legs of a mammal are long, thin and strong, the claws on the paws are not fully retracted when walking and running, which is not at all typical for felines. The head of a cheetah is small, with small, rounded ears.

The body length of a cheetah varies from 1.23 m to 1.5 m, while the length of the tail can reach 63-75 cm, and the height at the withers is on average 60-100 cm. The weight of the cheetah ranges from 40 to 65-70 kg.

Short, relatively sparse fur of a sandy-yellow cheetah, dark spots are evenly scattered throughout the skin, with the exception of the belly. various shapes and size. Sometimes in the area of ​​​​the head and withers there is a kind of mane of short, coarse hair. On the muzzle, from the inner corners of the eyes to the mouth, there are black stripes - “tear marks”, which help the cheetah better focus on prey during the hunt, and also reduce the risk of being blinded by bright sunlight.

How long does a cheetah live?

AT natural environment Habitat cheetahs live 20, rarely 25 years. Under excellent conditions in captivity, the life expectancy of these predators can increase significantly.

Where does the cheetah live?

The cheetah is a typical representative of such natural areas like deserts and savannahs with flat terrain. The animal prefers open areas. The cheetah lives mainly in Africa, in countries such as Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Somalia and Sudan, as well as in Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Chad, Ethiopia, Central African Republic and South Africa. Predators have also been reintroduced in Swaziland. On the territory of Asia, the cheetah is practically exterminated, and if it occurs, then in very small populations (in Iran).

What is the difference between a cheetah and a leopard?

The leopard and cheetah are animals that belong to the class of mammals, the order of carnivores, the cat family. belongs to the genus Panthera, cheetah - to the genus of cheetahs. There are a number of differences between these two predators:

  • The body of cheetahs and leopards is slender, flexible, the tail is long. The body length of the cheetah reaches 123-150 cm, the body length of the leopard is 91-180 cm. The length of the cheetah's tail reaches 63-75 cm, the tail of the leopard is much longer and is 75-110 cm.
  • An important difference between a cheetah and a leopard is the speed of running animals. The cheetah is faster than the leopard; when chasing prey, the cheetah runs at speeds up to 112 km / h. The leopard is noticeably slower, its speed is short distances reaches 60 km/h.
  • The cheetah almost never drags prey up the tree, and the leopard has such a habit.
  • The claws of a leopard are retractable, like those of all cats; The cheetah's claws are partially retractable.
  • The cheetah is a diurnal predator, while the leopard prefers to be active at dusk or at night.
  • Hunting in a pack is the norm for a cheetah, and a leopard is a lone predator.
  • On the face of the cheetah there are characteristic black stripes, tear marks that run from the corners of the eyes to the mouth. The leopard has no such markings.
  • The spots on the skin of a cheetah are clear, but do not form strict contour patterns. In a leopard, the pattern on the skin is usually collected in spots in the form of rosettes, and the spots can also be solid.
  • Leopard cubs are born with spots on their skin, cheetah kittens are not spotted at birth.
  • The habitat of the cheetah is savannas and deserts, and the predator prefers flat areas. The leopard lives in tropical and subtropical forests, in the mountains, in coastal thickets of rivers, as well as in savannahs.
  • The modern habitat of the leopard is much wider than that of the cheetah. If the cheetah lives only in African countries, and only a few populations live in Iran, then the leopard is distributed not only in African countries south of the Sahara, but also on the islands of Java and Sri Lanka, in Nepal, India, Pakistan, northern and southern China, Bhutan, Bangladesh, in the Far East near the border of Russia, China and North Korea, in Western Asia (Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, Pakistan, in the North Caucasus of Russia), on the Arabian Peninsula.

Cheetah on the left, leopard on the right

Subspecies of cheetahs, photos and names

The modern classification distinguishes 5 subspecies of cheetahs: four of them are the inhabitants of Africa, one is very rare in Asia. According to data from 2007, about 4,500 individuals live in African countries. The cheetah is listed in the IUCN Red List ( International Union nature conservation).

African subspecies of cheetahs:

  • Acinonyx jubatus hecki - the habitat covers the countries of North-West Africa and the Sahara;
  • Acinonyx jubatus fearsoni distributed in East Africa;
  • Acinonyx jubatus jubatus lives in South Africa;
  • Acinonyx jubatus soemmerringi - populations of the subspecies are found in Northeast Africa.

Asian subspecies of the cheetah:

  • Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) lives in Iran in the provinces of Khorasan, Markazi and Fars, but the populations of this subspecies are very small. Perhaps (the facts are not confirmed), several individuals live in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Total in wild nature there are no more than 10-60 individuals. There are 23 Asiatic cheetahs in zoos. The predator differs from the African subspecies: its paws are shorter, the neck is more powerful, the skin is thicker.

Extinct cheetah species

  • Acinonyx aicha
  • Acinonyx intermedius
  • Acinonyx kurteni
  • Acinonyx pardinensis– European cheetah

Among the typical colors of cheetahs, there are exceptions caused by rare genetic mutations. For example, the king cheetah (eng. King cheetah) is so special in color. Black stripes run along its back, and its sides are decorated with large spots, which sometimes merge together. For the first time, an individual with such an unusual pattern on the skin was discovered in 1926, and long time scientists argued about the classification, considering these cheetahs the result of a hybridization of a cheetah and a serval, and even tried to classify the king cheetah as a separate species. However, geneticists put an end to the controversy when, in 1981, at the De Wildt Cheetah Center, located in South Africa, a pair of ordinary cheetahs had a cub with a non-standard fur color. King cheetahs perfectly interbreed with their counterparts, which have a typical pattern on the skin, while healthy and full-fledged offspring are born.

Other colors of cheetahs

Among cheetahs, there are other mutational abnormalities. In the wild, scientists have noticed predators with all sorts of colors, among them:

  • Albino white cheetahs;
  • Black cheetahs with a barely visible outline of spots ( this mutation called melanism).
  • Red cheetahs with golden hair and dark red spots;
  • Cheetahs with light yellow or yellow-brown fur, covered with pale red spots.

Sometimes the cheetah's coat has a very dull and faded color, especially for the inhabitants of some desert zones: it is likely that such a nuance lies in the camouflage factor and the maximum adaptability of individuals to existence under the scorching sun.

How does a cheetah hunt?

By way of life, the cheetah is a diurnal predator, preferring to be active during daylight hours. For hunting, the animal usually chooses cool morning hours or evening time, but always before dusk, as it most often tracks down prey not by smell, but visually. The cheetah rarely hunts at night.

The cheetah's hunting method is very unusual: unlike other feline representatives, this animal does not ambush a potential victim, but overtakes it as a result of pursuit, combining very fast running with long jumps. In the process of chasing, the cheetah is able to quickly change the trajectory of movement and often uses such a maneuver to deceive the victim. A similar hunting method of a cheetah is determined by the habitat, because the open area practically does not imply conditions for shelters, therefore, for food, the animal has to arrange sprint races. The cheetah knocks down the overtaken victim with a blow of a powerful paw, and only then strangles.

The maximum speed of a cheetah can reach 112 km/h. Despite the large volume of lungs, even he cannot cope with the rapid speed when running, and, spending great amount energy, the cheetah gets very tired. That is why almost half of the hunting chases end in failure: if the predator does not overtake the prey in the first 200-300 meters, it simply stops the pursuit.

The cheetah (lat. Acinonyx jubatus - “non-moving claws”) is a feline mammal.
Previously, cheetahs, due to their special body structure, were isolated in an independent subfamily of cheetahs (Acinonychinae), however, molecular genetic studies have revealed their close relationship with the cougar genus, which is why they began to be attributed to the subfamily of small cats (Felinae). In many European languages, the word "cheetah" comes from the medieval Latin gattus pardus, which means "leopard cat".
Cheetahs are diurnal predators. Unlike other felids, cheetahs hunt by stalking prey rather than by ambush. First, they approach the chosen prey at a distance of 25 - 27 meters (while practically not hiding), and then try to catch it in a short run. Having overtaken the victim, the cheetah beats it with its front paws and immediately grabs its throat with its teeth. The blow is so strong that the victim flies somersaults. The kinetic energy that the body of a beast galloping at incredible speed carries in itself helps to knock down animals larger and heavier than itself. If for a short time the cheetah fails to overtake its prey, it refuses to continue the hunt, because due to the huge energy consumption, it is unable to pursue a long chase. The run rarely lasts more than a minute. After a successful hunt, a cheetah cannot immediately start eating, as it needs rest after an exhausting chase. This is often used by hyenas and lions, taking away his prey from an exhausted hunter.
The cheetah is the fastest land animal. Super elastic spine and long paws allow it to accelerate in 2 seconds to 75 km / h, and in 3 - to 110 km / h, which exceeds the acceleration of most sports cars. A case is known when a cheetah covered a distance of about 650 meters in 20 seconds, which corresponds to a speed of 120 km per hour. The absolute speed record for a cheetah is 128 km per hour. The cheetah jumps 4.5 meters high, which is again a record among land mammals. In length, the cheetah jumps 7-8 meters. You can read about other record holders among animals.


The cheetah is an endangered species. Zoologists have found that not all adult females living in national parks Africa, bring offspring, and those that participate in reproduction give offspring less often than others large predators. In modern cheetahs, due to closely related reproduction, the immune defense reactions of the body are sharply weakened, in connection with this, 70 percent of young animals die from various diseases. Currently, about 12,400 cheetahs remain in nature, the vast majority in Africa, about 50 individuals live in Iran.

The amazing sprinting abilities of the cheetah have been noticed and used by people for a very long time. Since ancient times, the cheetah has been used as a hunting animal in Egypt, Asia and Europe. Many images have been preserved: cheetahs in collars and on leashes obediently walk at the feet of horses.

The best description of exactly how they hunted with a cheetah (albeit in later times) was left to us by the Venetian merchant Marco Polo, who made his famous trip to Central Asia. He lived at the court of Kublai Khan, in his summer residence in Karakoram. Marco Polo counted about a thousand tame cheetahs here. Some were led on leashes to hunt, while others somehow managed to sit on horseback behind the riders. To prevent the animals from chasing game ahead of time, cheetahs had caps on their heads that closed their eyes, like those that are put on hunting falcons. Having surrounded a herd of antelopes or deer and approaching them at the required distance, the hunters quickly removed the caps from the cheetahs, freed them from the leashes, and the animals rushed into a lightning raid on prey. The cheetahs were trained to hold the captured antelope firmly until the hunters arrived. Immediately, the cheetahs received a reward: the insides of the extracted antelope.

In the 11th-12th centuries, Russian princes also chased saigas with cheetahs across the steppe expanse. In Rus', hunting cheetahs were called pardus, they were greatly appreciated and protected. To care for them at the princely courts, there were special "kennel" pardusniks.

The last hunt involving cheetahs took place in India in 1942.

The cheetah is one of the most predatory and fastest animals on the planet, which are members of the cat family. It should be noted that in terms of speed, the cheetah is second only to the jaguar, but the most maximum speed that a cheetah can develop will be approximately 110 to 115 km / h.

The population of this species of mammals is not high.

Cheetah - description, structure, characteristics

By their own anatomical features the cheetah is a bit like domestic cats, but the difference between them is not only in size, because the cheetah's body has a slightly longish shape.

At the same time, at first glance, it may seem that this animal is not able to survive in such harsh and harsh conditions, while due to its well-developed muscles, the cheetah is able to instantly gain high speed for hunting prey.

The special features of the cheetah's structure are its long, but very strong legs, the body is elongated, and the head is small.

The body size of an adult can reach up to 1.5 meters, but its tail can be about 80 cm in size, almost all cheetahs are the same size in height, so the height of an adult can reach up to 1 meter. But its weight can be different and have limits from 50 to 80 kg.

The color of the cheetah, as a rule, has a sandy or dark yellow tint, only the belly of the animal has white color, while there are small black spots on the entire body of the animal, with the exception of the belly.

How long does a cheetah live?

As a rule, almost all cheetahs in the wild can live up to a maximum of 25 years, but this figure can increase significantly if they are kept in captivity under constant supervision.

Where does the cheetah live?

The habitat of this predator is open and flat terrain, where there is a lot of free space for viewing and choosing a prey.

The habitat of this species of animal is distributed throughout almost the entire territory of the African continent, and is less common in the Asian region.

Subspecies of cheetahs, photos and names

Currently, scientists have 5 subspecies of cheetahs, almost all of them live in Africa, and only one species is very rare in the Asian region.

So, as of 2007, according to scientists, about 4,500 cheetahs were identified on the African continent.

Such a population is considered to be very small, therefore these predatory mammals are listed in the Red Book.

So, four subspecies that live in Africa:

  • Acinonyx jubatus hecki
  • Acinonyx jubatus fearsoni
  • Acinonyx jubatus jubatus
  • Acinonyx jubatus soemmerringi

But the subspecies of cheetahs, which is found in Asia "Acinonyx jubatus venaticus" or the Asiatic cheetah, mainly lives in Iran. This type animals has a very small population, and their number does not even reach 100 individuals.

The distinctive features of the Asian cheetah from the African ones are its body structure. So in Asiatic cheetahs: short, but very strong and powerful paws, a rather powerful neck, as well as a very thick skin.

king cheetah

AT nature cheetahs may have a body color that is not characteristic of cheetahs, this can be seen very, very rarely. Such an uncharacteristic color for cheetahs can only be due to gene mutations.

The color itself has the following appearance - along the entire length of the back of the animal there are black stripes of black color, and along the rest of the body there are black spots of various sizes. Individuals of this species were first discovered in the late 20s of the last century.

However, for a long time, many scientists believed that the king cheetah was bred by hybridizing a leopard with a cheetah. But already in the early 80s of the last century, an event occurred that gave an answer to the origin of the royal cheetah.

In the special cheetah research center "De Wildt", a small cheetah with an unusual color was born in individuals with an ordinary color.

How does a cheetah hunt?

cheetah leads active image mostly during the day when there is very good visibility. As a rule, the cheetah prefers to hunt in the prime of life or in the evening, but when it is not yet completely dark. The fact is that the cheetah does not like to hunt at night.

The cheetah's hunting process is as follows: the cheetah does not attack its prey from cover, but catches its prey in pursuit, alternating a very fast run with long and powerful cheetah jumps.

Chasing its prey in the process of chasing a cheetah can instantly change its direction of movement.

The cheetah knocks down its prey with one stroke of its paw, after which it strangles its caught prey.

It should be noted that if the victim still escapes during the chase of the cheetah, then he leaves the victim alone. So during the pursuit of the victim, the cheetah spends quite a lot of energy, so it is easier for the cheetah to let go of a potential victim than to pursue it for a long time.

In this case, he will definitely repeat his new attempt until he catches his own food.

What does a cheetah eat?

The basis of the cheetah's diet menu is ungulates; it is also not uncommon for a cheetah to eat small prey, namely hares. It should be noted that cheetahs are very careful about food.

So, for example, they will never eat carrion, besides, after they eat, but the prey is not eaten, then the cheetahs will no longer eat it up again. As a rule, the cheetah will hunt for new and fresh prey.

Cheetah breeding

On the onset mating season in cheetahs, males of these animals form small groups of 3-5 individuals, which necessarily include adults from one litter. All this is necessary in order to protect their territory from males from other groups, which may also contain possible female partners.

The gestation period of a female cheetah can last from 80 to 90 days, while the female is able to reproduce from two to five kittens at a time.

Little kittens are born blind and defenseless, and only after 9-15 days do the eyes of the cubs open.

At birth, small cheetah kittens have long and soft hair, which has a slightly grayish color with a blue tint, and the spots on the skin begin to stand out after some time, but the tip of the tail has a dark color, which will simply disappear after 3-5 months.

Almost all cheetah cubs live with their mother upon reaching 1-1.5 years, after which, young and independent cheetahs begin to live independently.

The most difficult periods for cheetahs are autumn and spring, it is at this time that they often suffer from various viral diseases.

Photo of a cheetah

The cheetah belongs to the cat family. Habitat ego Africa and the Middle East. The cheetah genus consists of only one species of cheetah.

Description of the appearance of a cheetah

In running this cat has no equal, it can move at a speed of 100-120 km / h. The cheetah's physique allows it to develop the speed of a hurricane wind, as if it was created for rapid speed. The body of the cheetah is rather slender and muscular, with practically no fat deposits, reaching a length of 125-150 cm without a tail. Weight compared to others big cats Africa, quite small - 36-60 kg. The head is small with small rounded ears. The legs are long and thin. The height at the withers is approximately 70 to 95 cm. The long tail is 65-80 cm, which, when running, helps to balance and repeat all the zigzags behind the victim. Cheetahs have a big rib cage and large lungs, allowing for 150 breaths per minute. The eyes of a cheetah are located on the front of the skull, as in most cats. The animal has binocular and spatial vision to accurately calculate the distance to the prey, and its field of vision covers 200 degrees. The color of the cheetah is dark yellow with small black spots all over the body. The claws do not protrude like most cats, but are outside and constantly dull when walking or running.

The king cheetah is also found in the wild, but this is not separate view, but a rare mutation. It differs only in color with larger black spots and two stripes stretching from the neck to the tail.

Cheetah lifestyle and breeding

The life of a cheetah is a little different from that of other cats. Cheetahs are predominantly diurnal and solitary. Male cheetahs sometimes form coalitions. They usually consist of brothers from the same brood. Females never form alliances with either their own sex or the opposite. They lead a nomadic life, never lingering in one territory for a long time. Often, females do not travel alone, but with their cubs. When the cubs have just appeared and are very small, the female lives settled for the first time. For her stay at this time, she chooses shrubs, lonely trees in thickets of thick grass, termite mounds, sometimes placed in rocks. After the kids grow up, he goes along with them on the road.

Males, unlike females, always look for a territory for themselves to live in and always mark it, leaving excrement and urine on trees or scratching them. Although, like females, they can live in the occupied territory for a short time - from 1 to 3 years.

Mating season for cheetahs

Females and males of cheetahs are found only during the mating season and stay in place for several days. After the female bears offspring for 90-95 days. After this time, the female brings from 1 to 5 babies, in rare cases 6. The cubs are born blind, helpless, covered with short yellow hair with an abundance of small dark spots, which at first are visible only on the sides and legs. From above, along the entire length of the kittens, there is a “birth cape” - a kind of long, soft gray hair. After two months, it completely changes, and the babies acquire a characteristic color. The coat becomes short and coarse.

The first nine weeks, the babies spend in the den, but then the mother takes them away, constantly moving from one place to another. Since babies start eating meat from the age of three months, mothers need to hunt almost all the time to feed the family. After each successful hunt, if there is no danger nearby, the female leads or calls the babies to the prey. Mostly small ungulates. The mother takes care of her offspring for a year and a half or two, until they learn everything. necessary skills hunting, then leaves them.

Cheetahs live in the wild up to 12 years, and in captivity up to 15 years.

Cheetah in the Red Book

Cheetahs are listed in the Red Book. Today there are only a few thousand of them. The reason for the disappearance of cheetahs was their mass extermination by humans and a meager gene pool. As scientists have established, the second reason could become more significant than the first. Since cheetahs have lost their genetic diversity and are genetically almost the same, their immunity has suffered greatly from this and has become very weak. Most babies that are born in the wild die in the first year of life. Breeding these animals in artificial conditions virtually impossible, since they do not reproduce well in an unnatural environment. To preserve the species, zoologists believe that the Asian subspecies should be crossed with the African subspecies and thus restore the diversity of genes.