Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)

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

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 64 mph (103 km/h or 29 m/s) in short bursts up to 500 yards (457 meters). The cheetah is well known for its amazing acceleration (0-100 km/h in 3.5 seconds which is faster than the SLR McLaren, the Lamborghini Murciélago and the F/A-18 Hornet).

Description

The cheetah has a slender, long-legged body with blunt semi-retractile claws. Its chest is deep and its waist is narrow.

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.

The fur of the cheetah is yellow with round black spots, which help to camouflage it, and 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.

The cheetah's paws have semi-retractable claws, unique among cat species, which offer the cat extra grip in its high-speed pursuits. It should be noted that 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.

The cheetah's flexible spine, oversized liver, enlarged heart, wide nostrils, increased lung capacity, and thin muscular body make this cat the swiftest hunter in Africa. Covering 7-8 meters in a stride, with only one foot touching the ground at a time, the cheetah can reach a speed of 110 km/h in seconds. At two points in the stride, none of its feet touch the ground.

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-drop shaped 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 the only cat that cannot completely retract its claws. 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 and Portuguese guepardo (also used chita); and German Gepard.

Reproduction and Social Life

Female cheetahs acquire sexual maturity from 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. 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.

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. Using their tails to maintain balance, cheetahs can make sharp turns if needed. Cheetahs are able to run at 60-70 miles an hour, but they chase their prey at only about half the speed. 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, so they never run at top speed. 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

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.

Vocalizations

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 vocalisation 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 vocalisation 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).

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 blind folded, and kept on leashes while dogs flushed out their prey. When the prey was near enough, the cheetahs would be released and their blind-folds 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.