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Cheetah

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Mammals

                     iCheetah

                             Conservation status

   Vulnerable (VU)
            Scientific classification

   Kingdom: Animalia
   Phylum:  Chordata
   Class:   Mammalia
   Order:   Carnivora
   Family:  Felidae
   Genus:   Acinonyx
            Brookes, 1828
   Species: A. jubatus

                                Binomial name

   Acinonyx jubatus
   ( Schreber, 1775)

   The Cheetah (derived from Sanskrit word Chitraka meaning "Speckled")
   (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 land animals and can reach speeds of up to 70 mph (112
   km/h) in short bursts up to 500 yards (460 m), as well as being able to
   accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (~62 mph) in 3.5 seconds- faster than
   most supercars.

Description

   Cheetah
   Enlarge
   Cheetah

   The cheetah has a slender, long-legged body with blunt semi-retractile
   claws. Its chest is deep and its waist is narrow. Its coat is tan with
   small, round, black spots, and the fur is coarse and short. The cheetah
   has a small head with high-set eyes. Black "tear marks" run from the
   corner of its eyes down the sides of the nose to its mouth to keep
   sunlight out of its eyes and to aid in hunting and seeing long
   distances.

   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). Male cheetahs are slightly larger than
   females and have a slightly bigger head, but it is difficult to tell
   males and females apart by appearance alone.
   A Cheetah in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
   Enlarge
   A Cheetah in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

   The fur of the cheetah is yellow with round black spots, which help to
   camouflage it, and with distinctive black lines that go from the inner
   corner of each eye and down along the side of the snout to the jaw. The
   cheetah’s coat is tan, or buff colored, with black spots measuring from
   ¾ to 1¼ inches across (2–3 cm). 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. The cheetah's tail usually ends in a bushy white tuft.

   Cheetahs also have a rare fur pattern mutation: cheetahs with larger,
   blotchy, merged spots are known as 'King Cheetahs'. It was once thought
   to be a separate subspecies, but it is merely a mutation of the African
   Cheetah. A 'King Cheetah' has only been seen in the wild a handful of
   times, but they have been bred in captivity (see below).

   The cheetah's paws have semi-retractable claws, known in only one other
   cat species - the Fishing Cat - which offer the cat extra grip in its
   high-speed pursuits. The ligament structure of the cheetah's claws is
   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.

   Adaptations that enable the cheetah to run as fast as it does include
   large nostrils that allow for optimal oxygen intake, and an enlarged
   heart and lungs that work together to circulate oxygen efficiently.
   While running, in addition to having good traction due to its
   semi-retractable claws, the cheetah uses its tail as a rudder-like
   means of steering to allow it to make sharp turns, necessary because
   prey will often make such turns to escape.

   Unlike true big cats, cheetahs can purr as they inhale, but cannot
   roar. By contrast, lions, tigers, leopards, and jaguars can roar but
   cannot purr, except while exhaling. However, cheetahs are still
   considered by many to be the smallest of the big cats. While it is
   often mistaken for a leopard, the cheetah does have distinguishing
   features, such as the long "tear-streak" lines on each side of its nose
   that run from the corner of its eyes to its mouth. The body frame of a
   cheetah is also very different from that of the leopard, most notably
   so in its thinner and extra long tail.

   The cheetah is 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, the cheetah now suffers more
   from the loss of both habitat and prey.

   The cheetah is 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. The
   cheetah has lions and hyenas as natural enemies.

Classification

   The genus name, Acinonyx, means "no-move-claw" in Greek, while the
   species name, jubatus, means "maned" in Latin, a reference to the mane
   found in cheetah cubs. It is one of only two cats that cannot
   completely retract their claws - the other being the Fishing Cat. Even
   when retracted, the claws remain visible and are used for grip during
   the cheetah's 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 i.e spotted cat": French guépard; Italian
   ghepardo; Spanish guepardo and Portuguese leopardo (also used chita);
   and German Gepard.

Reproduction and social life

   Cheetahs in Masai Mara game reserve, Kenya
   Enlarge
   Cheetahs in Masai Mara game reserve, Kenya

   Female cheetahs reach sexual maturity in 20 to 24 months, and males
   around 12 months (although they do not usually mate until at least 3
   years old), and mating occurs throughout the year. Females give birth
   to up to nine cubs after a gestation period of ninety to ninety-eight
   days, although the average litter size is 3 to 5. Cubs weigh from 150
   to 300 g (5 to 10 oz.) at birth. Unlike some other cats, cheetahs are
   born with their characteristic spots. Cheetah cubs are also born with a
   downy underlying fur on their necks, called a mantle, extending to
   mid-back. This gives them a mane or mohawk-type appearance; this fur is
   shed as the cheetahs grow older. It has been speculated that this mane
   gives a cheetah cub the appearance of a ratel, to scare away potential
   aggressors.

   Death rate is very high during the early weeks, and up to 90% of the
   cubs are killed during this time by lions, hyenas or even by eagles.
   They leave their mother between thirteen and twenty months after birth.
   The cheetah can live over twenty years, but their life is often short,
   for they lose their speed with old age.

   Unlike males, females are solitary and tend to avoid each other, though
   some mother/daughter pairs have been known to continue for small
   periods of time. Cheetahs have a unique, well-structured social order.
   Females live alone except when they are raising cubs and they raise
   their cubs on their own. The first 18 months of a cub's life are
   important - cubs learn many lessons because survival depends on knowing
   how to hunt wild prey species and avoid other predators such as
   leopards, lions, hyena, and baboons. At 18 months, the mother leaves
   the cubs, who then form a sibling, or 'sib', group, that will stay
   together for another 6 months. At about 2 years, the female siblings
   leave the group, and the young males remain together for life. Life
   span is up to 12 years in wild, but up to 20 years in captivity.

Territories

Males

   Male cheetahs are very territorial. Female cheetahs' home ranges can be
   very large and trying to build a territory around several females'
   ranges is impossible to defend. Instead, males choose the points at
   which several of the females' home ranges overlap, creating a much
   smaller space, which can be properly defended against intruders while
   maximizing the chance of reproduction. Coalitions will try their utmost
   to maintain territories in order to find females with which they will
   mate. The size of the territory also depends on the available
   resources; depending on the part of Africa, the size of a cheetah's
   territory can vary greatly from 37 km² to 160 km².

   Male cheetahs are very sociable and will group together for life,
   usually with their brothers in the same litter; although if a cub is
   the only male in the litter then two or three lone males may group up,
   or a lone male may join an existing group. These groups are called
   coalitions. A coalition is six times more likely to obtain a territory
   than a lone male, although studies have shown that coalitions keep
   their territories just as long as lone males - four to four and a half
   years.

   Males mark their territory by urinating on objects that stand out, such
   as trees, logs, or termite mounds. The whole coalition contributes to
   the scent. Males will attempt to kill any intruders and fights often
   result in serious injury or death.

Females

   Unlike males and other felines, females do not establish territories.
   Instead, the area they live in is termed a home range. These overlap
   with other females' home ranges; often it will be the sisters from the
   same litter or a daughter's home range overlapping with her mother's.

   The size of a home range depends entirely on the availability of prey.
   Cheetahs in African woodlands have ranges as small as 34 km², while in
   some parts of Namibia they can reach 1,500 km². Although there have
   been no studies, it is expected that the home ranges of females in the
   Sahara are the largest of all the cheetah populations.

Vocalisations

   Yipping When cheetahs attempt to find each other, or a mother tries to
   locate her cubs, they use high-pitched barking called yipping. The yips
   made by a cheetah cub sound more like a bird chirping, and so are
   termed chirping.

   Churring, stuttering or stutter-barking is a vocalization emitted by
   cheetahs during social meetings. A churr can be seen as a social
   invitation to other cheetahs, an expression of interest, uncertainty,
   or appeasement or during meetings with the opposite sex (although each
   sex churrs for different reasons).

   Growling, often accompanied by hissing and spitting are exhibited by
   cheetahs during annoyance, or when faced with danger. A similar
   vocalization made by a cheetah when a threat is escalated is yowling.

   Purring is made when the cheetah is contented, usually during pleasant
   social meetings (e.g. a mother with her cubs).

Diet

   Cheetahs are carnivores, eating mostly mammals under 40 kg (90 lb),
   including Thomson's gazelles and Impala. Wildebeest and calves are
   hunted when cheetahs hunt together. Guinea fowl and hares are also
   hunted. While the other big cats mainly hunt by night, the cheetah is a
   diurnal hunter. It hunts usually either early in the morning or later
   in the evening when it is not so hot, but there is still enough light -
   cheetahs hunt by vision rather than by scent. Prey is stalked to within
   ten to thirty meters (30-100 ft), then chased. The chase is usually
   over in less than a minute, and if the cheetah fails to make a quick
   catch, it will often give up rather than waste energy. Another reason a
   cheetah may give up is because running at such high speeds puts a great
   deal of strain on the cheetah's body. The cheetah's body temperature
   becomes so high that it would be deadly to continue - this is why
   cheetahs are often seen resting even after they have caught their prey.
   If it is a hard chase, they sometimes need to rest for half an hour or
   more. Roughly half of their chases are successful. The cheetah kills
   its prey by tripping it during the chase, then biting it on the
   underside of the throat to suffocate it, for the cheetah is not strong
   enough to break the necks of the gazelles it mainly hunts. The bite may
   also puncture a vital artery in the neck. Then the cheetah proceeds to
   devour its catch as quickly as possible before the kill is taken by
   stronger predators such as lions, leopards, and hyenas.

Habitat

   The range of the cheetah
   Enlarge
   The range of the cheetah

   Cheetahs thrive in areas with vast expanses of land where prey is
   abundant. In Namibia cheetahs have been found in a variety of habitats,
   including grasslands, savannahs, dense vegetation, and mountainous
   terrain. Ninety-five percent live on commercial farms. Cheetahs are
   found in the wild primarily in Africa, but in the past their range
   extended into northern and southern India. Conservationists using
   camera traps have recently discovered surviving populations in Iran and
   are taking steps to protect them. In much of their former range they
   were domesticated by aristocrats and used to hunt antelopes in much the
   same way as is still done with members of the greyhound group of dogs.
   Aside from an estimated 200 cheetahs living in Iran ( Khorasan
   Province), the distribution of cheetahs is now limited to Africa. There
   are 5 subspecies of cheetah in the genus Acinonyx: four in Africa and
   one in Iran. The endangered subspecies Acinonyx jubatus venaticus lives
   in Asia (Iran). In 1990, there were reports in the Times of India of a
   cheetah sighting in eastern India. There is a chance some cheetahs
   remain in India, though it is doubtful. There have also been reports of
   Asiatic cheetahs in the Balochistan Province of Pakistan, though these
   continue to be unverified. The cheetah prefers to live in an open
   biotope, such as semi-desert, prairie, and thick brush.

   The book “CHEETAH” by Luke Hunter and Dave Hamman explains: “The
   Mughals and others subdued wild cheetahs using nets, ropes and their
   bare hands, yet there are no records of a cheetah ever killing a captor
   in self-defence, In fact, there is no record of wild cheetahs ever
   killing a human at all”.

Genetics

   Cheetah mother with cub
   Enlarge
   Cheetah mother with cub

   Cheetahs have unusually low genetic variability and high abnormal sperm
   count. Skin grafts between non-related cheetahs illustrate this point
   in that there is no rejection of the donor skin. It is thought that
   they went through a prolonged period of inbreeding following a genetic
   bottleneck during the last ice age. They probably evolved in Africa
   during the Miocene epoch (26 million to 7.5 million years ago), before
   migrating to Asia. New research by a team led by Warren Johnson and
   Stephen O’Brien of the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity ( National
   Cancer Institute in Frederick, Maryland, US) has recently placed the
   last common ancestor of all existing cat species as living in Asia c.
   11 million years ago, which may lead to revision and refinement of
   existing ideas about cheetah evolution. Now-extinct species include:
   Acinonyx pardinensis (Pliocene epoch), much larger than modern cheetahs
   and found in Europe, India, and China; Acinonyx intermedius (mid-
   Pleistocene period), found over the same range. The extinct genus
   Miracinonyx was extremely cheetah-like, but recent DNA analysis has
   shown that Miracinonyx inexpectatus, Miracinonyx studeri, and
   Miracinonyx trumani (early to late Pleistocene epoch), found in North
   America and called the "North American Cheetah" are not true cheetahs,
   instead being close relatives to the puma.

Subspecies

   For a short time it was thought that there were six subspecies of
   cheetah, but Acinonyx rex - the King Cheetah (see below) - was
   abandoned after it was discovered the variation was only a recessive
   gene. The current five sub-species of Acinonyx jubatus are:
     * Acinonyx jubatus hecki - West Africa.
     * Acinonyx jubatus jubatus - Southern Africa.
     * Acinonyx jubatus raineyii - East Africa.
     * Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii - Central Asia.
     * Acinonyx jubatus venaticus - The Asiatic Cheetah.

Morphs and variation

King Cheetah

   The King Cheetah was first noted in Zimbabwe in 1926. In 1927, the
   naturalist Reginald Innes Pocock declared it a separate species, but
   reversed this decision in 1939 due to lack of evidence. In 1928, a skin
   purchased by Lord Rothschild was found to be intermediate in pattern
   between the king cheetah and spotted cheetah and Abel Chapman
   considered it to be a colour form of the spotted cheetah. 22 such skins
   were found between 1926 and 1974. Since 1927, king cheetahs were
   reported 5 more times in the wild. Although strangely marked skins had
   come from Africa, a live king cheetah was not photographed until 1974
   in South Africa's Kruger National Park. Cryptozoologists Paul and Lena
   Bottriell photographed one during an expedition in 1975. They also
   managed to obtain stuffed specimens. It appeared larger than a spotted
   cheetah and its fur had a different texture. There was another wild
   sighting in 1986 — the first for 7 years. By 1987, 38 specimens had
   been recorded, many from pelts.

   Its species status was resolved in 1981 when king cheetahs were born at
   the De Wildt Cheetah Centre in South Africa. In May 1981, two spotted
   sisters gave birth there and each litter contained one king cheetah.
   The sisters had both mated with a wild-caught male from the Transvaal
   area (where King Cheetahs had been recorded). Further King Cheetahs
   were later born at the Centre. This mutation has been reported in
   Zimbabwe, Botswana and in the northern part of South Africa's former
   Transvaal province.

Other variations

   Other rare colour morphs included speckled cheetahs, melanistic
   cheetahs, albino cheetahs and grayish cheetahs. Most were reported in
   Indian cheetahs, particularly in captive specimens kept for hunting.

   The Mughal Emperor of India, Jahangir, recorded having a white cheetah
   presented to him in 1608. In the memoirs of Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, the
   Emperor says that in the third year of his reign: Raja Bir Singh Deo
   brought a white cheetah to show me. Although other sorts of creatures,
   both birds and beasts have white varieties .... I had never seen a
   white cheetah. Its spots, which are (usually) black, were of a blue
   colour, and the whiteness of the body also inclined to blue-ishness.
   This suggests a chinchilla mutation which restricts the amount of
   pigment on the hair shaft. Although the spots were formed of black
   pigment, the less dense pigmentation gives a hazy, grayish effect. As
   well as Jahangir's white cheetah at Agra, a report of "incipient
   albinism" has come from Beaufort West according to Guggisberg.

   In a letter to "Nature in East Africa", HF Stoneham reported a
   melanistic cheetah (black with ghost markings) in the Trans-Nzoia
   District of Kenya in 1925. Vesey Fitzgerald saw a melanistic cheetah in
   Zambia in the company of a spotted cheetah. Red (erythristic) cheetahs
   have dark tawny spots on a golden background. Cream (isabelline)
   cheetahs have pale red spots on a pale background. Some desert region
   cheetahs are unusually pale; probably they are better-camouflaged and
   therefore better hunters and more likely to breed and pass on their
   paler coloration. Blue (maltese or gray) cheetahs have variously been
   described as white cheetahs with gray-blue spots (chinchilla) or pale
   grey cheetahs with darker grey spots (maltese mutation). A cheetah with
   hardly any spots was shot in Tanzania on 1921 (Pocock), it had only a
   few spots on the neck and back and these were unusually small.

Woolly cheetah

   Woolly cheetahs were reported in the 19th century as a separate species
   of cheetah that had longer, denser fur. Several specimens were
   obtained. It may be that creatures were in fact the same species as the
   present-day cheetah, but with a genetic disposition to long fur. The
   woolly cheetah has, in any case, vanished.

   In 1877, Philip Sclater of the Zoological Society of London wrote of a
   recent acquisition by the zoo: It presents generally the appearance of
   a cheetah, but is thicker in the body, and has shorter and stouter
   limbs, and a much thicker tail. When adult it will probably be
   considerably larger than the cheetah, and is larger even now than our
   three specimens of that animal. The fur is much more woolly and dense
   than in the cheetah, as is particularly noticeable on the ears, mane
   and tail.

   Woolly cheetahs were observed to have thicker bodies and stouter limbs
   than normal cheetahs, although this may have been a misleading
   appearance given by the long hair. They had dense, woolly hair
   especially on the tail and neck where it formed a ruff or mane. The
   long fur made the normal spotted cheetah pattern indistinct and the
   animals appeared pale fawn with dark, round blotches.

   Long hair in cats is due to recessive genes, so the pertinent gene here
   may still be present in a few individuals. However, the cheetah gene
   pool is unusually uniform so the lack of modern longhaired cheetahs
   means the mutation has probably vanished.

   The whole of the body is of a pale isabelline colour, rather paler on
   the belly and lower parts, but covered all over, including the belly,
   with roundish dark fulvous blotches. There are no traces of the black
   spots which are so conspicuous in all of the varieties of the cheetah
   which I have seen, nor of the characteristic black line between the
   mouth and eye.

   Although described as blotched, a painting of the cheetah depicts it as
   freckled and the artist mistakenly added "eyeliner" markings which were
   not present in the actual specimen. In 1878, a second woolly cheetah
   was reported as a preserved specimen in the South African Museum. Both
   the London and South African specimens had come from Beaufort West. In
   1884, a third skin was obtained from the same area, though this had
   more distinct spots and was a little smaller. By the 1880s, the trophy
   hunters had eliminated the woolly cheetah.

   In Harmsworth Natural History (1910), R Lydekker wrote of the "hunting
   leopard" or "chita" (old spelling of cheetah) in which he distinguished
   it from the "normal" cheetah: "The hunting leopard of South Africa has
   been stated to differ from the Indian animal in its stouter build,
   thicker tail, and denser and more woolly fur, the longest hairs
   occurring on the neck, ears, and tail. This woolly hunting leopard was
   regarded by its describer as a distinct species (Cynaelurus lanius),
   but it is, at most, only a local race, of which the proper name is C.
   jubatus guttatus."

Economic importance

   Cheetah fur was formerly regarded as a status symbol. Today, cheetahs
   have a growing economic importance for ecotourism and they are also
   found in zoos. Because cheetahs are far less aggressive than other big
   cats, cubs are sometimes sold as pets. This is an illegal trade,
   because international conventions forbid private ownership of wild
   animals or species threatened with extinction.

   Cheetahs were formerly, and are sometimes still, hunted because many
   farmers believe that they eat livestock. When the species came under
   threat, numerous campaigns were launched to try to educate farmers and
   encourage them to conserve cheetahs. Recent evidence has shown that if
   cheetahs can avoid it they will not attack and eat livestock,
   preferring their wild prey. However, they have no problem with
   including farmland as part of their territory, leading to conflict.

   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 blindfolded, and kept on
   leashes while dogs flushed out their prey. When the prey was near
   enough, the cheetahs would be released and their blindfolds 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 1930s the Emperor of Abyssinia, Haile
   Selassie, was often photographed leading a cheetah by a leash.

Conservation status

   Cheetah cubs have a high mortality rate due to genetic factors and
   predation by carnivores in competition with the cheetah, such as the
   lion and hyena. Some biologists now believe that they are too inbred to
   flourish as a species.

   Cheetahs are included on the IUCN list: vulnerable species (African
   subspecies threatened, Asiatic subspecies in critical situation) as
   well as on the US ESA: threatened species - Appendix I of CITES
   (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species).
   Approximately 12,400 cheetahs remain in the wild in 25 African
   countries; Namibia has the most, with about 2,500. Another 50-60
   critically endangered Asiatic Cheetahs are thought to remain in Iran.
   There have been successful breeding programs, including the use of
   in-vitro fertilization, in zoos around the world.

   The Cheetah Conservation Foundation was set up in 1993 for the cheetah
   protection. It is based in South Africa.
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