Cheetah: Speed, Habitat, and Survival of the Fastest Land Mammal

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the cheetah, the fastest land animal, delving into its habitat, speed, and hunting strategies. It explores the cheetah's diverse habitat preferences, from open grasslands to arid mountain valleys, and details its incredible speed, including its acceleration and top speed. The report examines the cheetah's physical adaptations for speed, such as its elongated spine, long legs, and tail, as well as its hunting techniques, including its reliance on sight and daytime hunting habits. It also discusses the cheetah's social behavior, including the roles of male and female cheetahs and the survival of cubs, as well as their reproduction. Furthermore, the report touches upon the cheetah's unique characteristics, such as their meows and purrs, camouflage, and diet, including their preference for fast food and infrequent need for water. Finally, it looks at the origin of the cheetah and the factors affecting their survival in the wild. This report is perfect for anyone looking to understand this incredible animal.

Today we are going to talk about the supreme sprinters, in the sea of speeding bodies, with their
incredible legs and amazing stamina. Life for some animals is literally a race, to stay alive they have to
run the fastest, they have to keep running for the longest and they must have some extra tricks they
must do it every day and many times a day just to stay alive. The one wins who runs fast like a wind. One
gold medal sprinter is way ahead of the rest every detail of his body is built for speed, we are taking
about the cheetah. These big cats can outrun all the animals with their slim and light body with long legs
built for sprinting.
Habitat and distribution
Cheetahs are less selective in habitat selection than other animals. They inhabit a diverse variety of
ecosystems, like the areas having the greater availability of food(prey), vast open areas having good
visibility. They prefer those areas in which they have minimum chances to encounter the larger
predators. They rarely live in tropical forests. It has been reported that cheetahs are even found at the
elevations of 4,000 meter high.
Open areas having some cover, like bushes, tall grasses are ideal for cheetah because they are best
suitable for his niche. He needs to stalk and chase its prey from a distance. Initially, cheetahs were likely
to be seen across Asian and African continents, but now they are limited up to dry and open grasslands
of the Sub-Saharan areas of Africa. Cheetahs living in southern and eastern Africa are most likely to
occur in savannas regions like the Serengeti and Kalahari. In northern, western and central Africa
cheetahs live in the arid mountain valleys. In the harsh and hot climate of the Sahara, the cheetahs go to
high mountains, with more rainfall probability than the surrounding desert.
1. Speed
The cheetah can accelerate to 75 kilometers an hour in just less than two seconds. Soon he reaches his
top speed of 120. This speed is faster than the sports car acceleration.
Cheetah’s body is made for high sprints, his extended spine, with the long legs, specially designed claws
for the grip on ground and it’s long tail which assist him for balance. Such mega high-speed sprinting
consumes a lot of energy, so the cheetah sprinting chase is limited up to 200m to 300m, and this is race
is less than one minute. When cheetah is at it’s full speed during the chase, it covers almost 21 feets
with each stride. You won’t believe this, that their feet touch the ground only just two times in the each
stride.
Do you know;
In the year 2012, in Cincinnati Zoo an eleven years old cheetah broke all the records, and covered 100
meters with the highest speed of 61 mph in just 5.95 seconds. Olympian Usain Bolt, who holds the
(human) world record, is much slower by comparison: 100 meters in 9.58 seconds.
2. Cheetah after the chase
Cheetahs are extremely fast animals, but they get tired very quickly. They can only keep up their top
speed for just one to two minutes. After that they get too tired to continue. Cheetah after chasing its
prey, needs almost 30 minutes to recover its breath before starting eating. During chase, he is taking

nearly 150 breaths in one minute and that’s why its body temperature reaches 40 degrees. So, he takes
rest for half an hour to recover himself and get himself ready to hunt again.
3. Their Eyes Help Them Hunt
Cheetahs hunt by sight, their eyes provide them a long and wide-angle view in the field and they have
very sharp vision. They have a natural beautiful eyeliner, that has a great purpose. These black tear
marks avert the reflected sunlight from entering in his eyes. Their amazing eyesight works more
effectively during the day time. cheetah can spot its prey from 5 km away in day time. But without the
sun's glare, cheetah are unable to target their prey.
Unlike most other big cats, cheetahs hunt in the daytime. They climb a termite mound or small hill and
use their sharp vision to locate prey – then it's off to the races. The cheetah uses its lightning speed to go
careening after its dinner, knocking the prey to the ground and then latching on to its throat. the
cheetah has a 50 50 chance of victory cheetahs kill by suffocating the prey with a firm bite on the neck.
4. Oversized heart and lungs;
Cheetahs have oversized heart and lungs so he can effectively get oxygen into his high-power muscles.
Even his nostrils are bigger, so he can suck in more air.
5. Elongated tail of cheetah;
They have a long muscular tail, in a flat shape that aids them for balancing and steering. This long tail is
like a rudder, so he can make sharp turns in the chase. Cheetah uses his tail to steer himself while
chasing his prey.
at the top of the athletic table the speedsters are truly breathtaking animals faster than cars more
maneuverable than a gymnast and with more clever moves than a dancer these are the supreme
athletes perfectly evolved to win their races every day in the wild
6. Origin;
The cheetah is having the home on the land of African plains, but they started migrating almost 100,000
years ago from the North America towards Africa. The researchers told, that this migration from North
America to Africa was proven very costly for cheetah, this triggered the major reduction in their
genepool. This migration occurred through the Beringian land bridge. These cats moved southward into
the Africa.
7. Cheetahs Don’t Roar, They Meow and Purr
It is very astonishing that these wild cats do not roar like the other four big cats lions and leopards,
tigers. Jaguars, which are well-known for the ferocious roars. There is nothing scary and terrible about
the noises they make. When they feel threatened and helpless, they make a chirping noise and they use
to purr when they feel happy. Isn’t that cute? Cheetahs Don’t Roar, They Meow and Purr. You can say
cheetahs sound more like an average house cat

8. The life expectancy.
Cheetahs have a life span of 7 to 10 years in the wild and but 16 years in the captivity. But the average
lifespan of the adult male leopards in the wild is lower and is almost 8 years, due to the territorial
conflicts with the other males. And the Adult mortality is the biggest limiting factor for their the growth
and survival in the wild.
9. Height and weight of leopard
Leopard body grows between 1.1m and 1.4m in length, their tail adds up to 65cm to 80cm into their
length. Their average weight lies between 34kg to 64kg, males being slightly heavier.
10. Cheetahs Have the Natural Camouflage
Cheetahs have a pale-yellow coat with the dark black dots on their upper part of skin, and white on their
underbelly. These spotted coats, help them to blend in with their surroundings environment. This not
only helps them to hide while stalking the prey, but this also keeps them safe from their predators.
Do you know
These dark spots are not just on their fur. Their skin also has these black spots.
What you think how many spots are there on cheetahs?
Cheetahs have between 2,000 and 3,000 spots on their skin.
Moreover, to these black spots, cheetah cubs have a full mohawk body, called mantle. This long hair
runs from neck down to their back, up to the end of their tail. Mantle helps them blend into tall grasses.
This camouflage keeps them safe from the predators like lions and hyenas.
Social or solidary animals,
Usually cheetahs are found in groups, consisting of either a mother and her cubs, or young siblings
because they stay together for almost six months after they leave their mother or the cheetahs are
found in the coalition of males to hunt and live together. Coalition is basically is a small family of 2 to 3
brothers cheetahs.
But the adult females, are solo creatures, they are seen to be solitary, they live alone and only meet the
male cheetahs at the time of mating or sticks with their cubs for raising them. So, one could say,
cheetahs are neither solitary nor social but they are little of both.
11. Female Cheetah and Her Cubs
Male cheetahs do not stay with females after the mating. They do not play any role in nurturing their
cubs. On the other hand, Female cheetahs are caring, loving and devoted mothers. After the pregnancy
time of 3 months, female cheetahs give birth to litter of 2 to 8 cubs in a sheltered and isolated spot such
as a rocky ridge or the marshy areas or in a lair, hidden by tall grasses and vegetation so, predators don’t
attack them. Cubs have a lot to learn from their mothers, she stays with them, to teach everything she
like stalking, hunting, catching and killing. When the cubs get 16 to 24 months old, they leave their
mother and are now able to take care of themselves. Then these males will stay together for life.

12. Survival of cubs
There are high chances of cubs to be taken by the bigger cats like lions and hyenas. There are only 50
percent chances of cubs to reach their adulthood. In some places, their survival chances are even worse
like in the densely populated area of Serengeti, only 1 in 10 cubs survive to become adults.
13. Reproduction.
Cheetahs become sexually mature at the age of 20 to 23 months (1.5 to 2 years). They breed throughout
the year. Females are polyestrous, having a normal estrous cycle of 12 days. During this time, female
remains "in heat" for 1 to 3 days.
These females urinate on trees, rocks, and bushes. Male then reaches on the scent, they call the female
with their yelps. Female answers back with yelps as the male. Then mating occurs immediately. It is said
that they are reproductively active till their age reaches 15 years, after that they are unable to
reproduce.
14. Cheetahs Love Fast Food and Don't Drink Much.
Cheetahs are carnivores that dine on small animals they can easily chase and kill. That includes smaller
antelopes like Thomson’s gazelles and springboks, as well as rabbits, porcupines, and ground-dwelling
birds, reports the San Diego Zoo. They eat the meat quickly before more aggressive predators like
leopards, lions, baboons, jackals, and hyenas come upon their dinner and force them to give it up. They
can even get chased away by vultures. Although cheetahs are fast, they’re not strong or aggressive
enough to drag their meals very far away or guard them from these fierce competitors. Cheetahs only
need to drink water every three or four days.
15. Cheetahs and Hunting
Cheetahs are the carnivores, they eat meat. They have brilliant eyesight. They can see up to 3 miles
(nearly 5km) away! Wow, that really is far! Cheetahs feed on rabbits, springboks, gazelles, antelopes,
zebras, warthogs, deer, birds, gazelles and impalas. With the help of their supreme sharp eyesight, they
first scan their surroundings. They quietly stalk their prey. At the right time, they sprint, catch and knock
down their prey and then kill it with a strong bite to the neck. After catching their prey, they bring it to
the shady and hiding spots so the other animals may don’t target them.
16. Hunting time
Cheetahs use to hunt in the day time. Their excellent eyesight works more efficiently at the day time to
look for prey, then sprint to pounce on them. They hunt during the day just to avoid the competition
from other predators like lions, leopards and hyenas. But we see Lions and leopards typically do their
hunting at the night time.
17. Cheetahs do not like to fight.

Cheetah don’t fight, they give up their prey if they see some big and aggressive animal come towards
them. They leave their catch and avoid fighting. No doubt Cheetahs are very smart but due to their light
body weight and blunt claws, they are not able to protect themselves or their prey.
18. Types/ sub-species of cheetah.
5. Tanzanian Cheetah
The Tanzanian cheetah are also called the East African cheetah and Kenyan cheetah. It is home grownd
of East Africa. It is noted that this subspecies of cheetah inhabits the grasslands and savannahs of
Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Somalia. According to IUCN red list this subspecies is listed vulnerable due
to the cheetah cub mortality, predation, and habitat loss threatens their survival. The Tanzanian
cheetahs have the 2nd largest population of the cheetah after South African subspecies.
4. Sudan Cheetah
These cheetahs are also called the Central African cheetah, Somali cheetah, or Northeast African
cheetah. They live in the grasslands, savannahs, deserts, and arid areas of Northeast and Central Africa.
The population of Sudan cheetah is found in many parts of their range and they are near to extinct in
Sudan. These cheetahs are threatened with smuggling and habitat loss, in the Middle East. They are also
classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN. This Sudan cheetah and the Tanzanian cheetah resembles a lot in
appearance.
3.South African Cheetah
The South African cheetah also known as Namibian cheetah is the most frequent subspecies of cheetah.
These cheetahs can be easily found in the savannahs of the farmlands of Namibia, Okavango Delta, the
arid areas of the Kalahari and in grasslands of the Transvaal. Despite of their highest population than
other subspecies, they also face a great threat from human activities
2. Northwest African Cheetah
The Northwest African cheetah also called as Senegal or Saharan cheetah. They are basically native/ and
indigenous to Northwest Africa. The IUCN declares the North west Africa cheetah as one of the most
threatened subspecies of cheetah and enlisted them under the critically endangered species. Their
survival ratio is also very low as just 250 mature individuals are left.
1. Asiatic Cheetah
The Asiatic cheetah is also known as Iranian cheetah. It is one of the rarest cheetah subspecies. Asiatic
cheetah lives in Iran. The animal is found across the Near East, Arabian Peninsula and all the way across
India. However, the IUCN declares the species as Critically Endangered. They are now found only in the
protected areas of Iran
19. Conservation status
Cheetah is heavily threatened by the loss of their habitat and prey. Influence of humans is another big
conflict. Cheetah is classified as the Vulnerable species in the IUCN Red list. In the 1990’s there were

near 100,000 cheetahs, but it’s been estimated that nearly 9,000 to 12,000 cheetahs are left in wild.
Cheetahs are the most endangered species in the Africa. They’re Racing Toward Extinction
This is not the first time that their population has been so perilous and scientists are anxious about their
extinction. But these big cats have faced the two momentous bottleneck events in the past, these events
have severely reduced and threated their population size. One event happened 100,000 years ago and
the other one happened 10,000- 12,000 years ago. In both events, their population was significantly
reduced, and leaving the smaller gene pool.
20. Threats
For many years, cheetahs are hunted for their beautiful fur, but today the biggest threats to their
existence are loss of their habitat, niche, and the competition for resources. Due to the increased human
migration, road construction and settlements destroy their habitat. Due to human pressure on their
habitat, these big cats run out of space and run out of prey. Their illegal trading, trophy hunting and
reproductive issues due to very limited genetic pool, they are getting lower in numbers.