Hello guys!
Today I'd like to tell you everything about cheetah.
Cheetah(Acinonyx jubatus) is the world's fastest land
mammal. With acceleration that would leave most automobiles in the dust, a
cheetah can go from 0 to 60 miles (96 kilometers) an hour in only three
seconds. These big cats are quite nimble at high speed and can make quick and sudden
turns in pursuit of prey.
Female cheetahs typically have three
cubs and live with them for one and a half to two years. Young cubs spend their
first year learning from their mother and practicing hunting techniques with
playful games. Male cheetahs live alone or in small groups.
Cubs weigh from 150 to 300 g at
birth. Unlike some other cats, the cheetah is born with its characteristic
spots. 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 cheetah grows older. It has been speculated
this mane gives a cheetah cub the appearance of the honey badger, to scare away
potential aggressors. Cubs leave their mother between thirteen and twenty
months after birth. Life span is up to twelve years in the wild, but up to
twenty years in captivity.
There are several geographically
isolated populations of cheetah, all of which are found in Africa or
southwestern Asia. A small population survive in the Khorana Province of Iran.
The cheetah thrives in areas with vast expanses of land where prey is abundant.
The cheetah likes to live in an open land, such as semi desert, and prairie,
though it can be found in a variety of habitats. In Namibia, for example, it
lives in grasslands, savanna, areas of dense vegetation, and mountainous
terrain.
Cheetah is a carnivore, eating
mostly mammals under 40 kg , including the Thomson's gazelle, the Grant's
gazelle, the springbok and the impala. The young of larger mammals such as
wildebeests and zebras are taken at times, and adults too, when cheetahs hunt
in groups. Guinea fowl and hares are also prey. While the other big cats often
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.
Ancient egyptians often kept cheetahs as
pets, and also tamed and trained them 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 brought to India, where the
practice was continued by Indian princes into the twentieth century. 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 Genghis Khan and Charlemagne, who boasted of having kept cheetahs
within their palace grounds. Akbar the Great, ruler of the Mughal Empire from
1556 to 1605, kept as many as 1000 cheetahs. As recently as the 1930s the
Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, was often photographed leading a cheetah
by a leash.
