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Acinonyx jubatus

(Hunting Leopard)

Overview

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There are seven recognized subspecies of cheetah, distinguished by subtle differences in their coats . The most striking is the king cheetah with spots that have been modified into wide discontinuous bars .

The cheetah originated about 4 million years ago, long before other big cats and was once common throughout Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. They disappeared about 10,000 years ago from North America when major climatic changes took place. Fossil evidence has been found in what is now Texas, Nevada and Wyoming. The cheetah also disappeared from Europe and most of those in Asia and Africa also vanished. The present populations are derived from inbreeding by those very few surviving and closely related animals. This has led to the present state cheetah genetics : every one is nearly identical.

Cheetahs are easily tamed. Sumerians were the first people known to tame cheetah and Egyptians deified them. Throughout history they have been kept in captivity. Akbar the Great of India kept 9,000 cheetah in his 45 year reign (1555-1600 AD). Despite his efforts to breed them, only one litter was produced during that time. They have been used by the Pharaohs, royalty and even by the emperor Charlemagne for hunting and as symbols of nobility.

NOTE : The cheetah is an endangered animal. Fewer than 12,000 cheetah exist in their natural habitat . Many see these animals as a threat to livestock and are shot , trapped or poisoned. Encroaching farmland and cattle ranching have pinched off vast areas of cheetah habitat and along with this habitat destruction, the over hunting of prey animals has also added to the cheetahs rapid decline.

Vulnerable
Threat status

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in Dutch:

Jachtluipaard of Cheeta

Common Names in English:

Cheetah, Hunting Leopard

Common Names in French:

Guépard

Common Names in Russian:

Гепард, Гепард королевский

Description

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Physical Description

Species Acinonyx jubatus

The Cheetah's name comes from the Sanskrit word "chita" meaning "spotted one". A cheetah has a long streamlined body, flexible spine, long legs , a long tail that acts as a rudder, an enlarged heart, large lungs and semi retractable blunt claws which aid the cats traction and turning ability at high speed . Its eyes are physically adapted for speed, enabling it to spot distant prey and follow it with pinpoint precision before racing in to kill. The cheetah has a small rounded head with a delicate skull and jaw compared with the lion and leopard.

Distinctive black stripes extend from the inner corners of the eyes to the mouth . Its coat is pale tan to a tawny gold with beautifully spotted round black markings of fairly uniform size. Demand for their skins is one of the reasons they have disappeared from much of their historical range . The coat is somewhat coarse , with hair slightly longer at the nape, forming a short mane.

A cheetah weighs between 88-143 pounds (39-65 kg ). Its head and body together measure 44 to 53 inches (112-135 cm). The tail is 26 to 33 inches (66-84 cm). Males tend to be slightly larger than females.

This animal is definitely made for speed. The cheetah is the fastest animal on land . At only 5 months of age a young cheetah can outrun almost any other adult carnivore . It has non-retractable claws and special paw pads that provide great traction. The paws are less rounded and harder than other cat's and help the cheetah make quick turns . To help enable the cheetah with rapid physical response, it has large nostrils, lungs, liver , heart, and adrenals. A long, fluid body - much like a greyhound's - is streamlined over light bones. The tail acts as a rudder for quick turning. Also their eyes have been adapted for speed: the retinal fovea is of an elongated shape , giving the cheetah a sharp, wide-angle view of its surroundings. The dark tear marks beneath each eye may also enhance its visual acuity by minimizing the sun's glare.

The spine works as a spring for the powerful back legs to give the cheetah added reach for each step. But this spring-like movement is very taxing physiologically. The cheetah is able to reach speeds of up to 80 miles per hour for short bursts. It can accelerate from 0 to 45 miles per hour in 2 seconds and can maintain its top speed for only about 300 yards . A cheetah's running stride can reach up to 23 feet. Also, the cheetahs are the only members of the big cat family that cannot roar. Instead they purr like house cats, especially when grooming or resting together. Cheetahs can make many different sounds that include purrs, barks , growls, hisses, and chirps. They can even mimic some bird sounds, perhaps to attract them.

Color:

The adult fur is yellow or tan with solid black round or oval spots measuring .75 to 1.5 inches in diameter over nearly the entire body. The head is small with eyes set high and a black "tear mark" running from the inner aspect of each eye down to the mouth . The teeth are small to accommodate large nasal passages . The throat and abdomen are white and the tail ends with 4-6 black rings and a bushy, white tuft.

We can identify cheetahs by distinctive individual ring patterns on their tails. Their legs are long and the paws are small with non-retractable claws and special paw pads that provide great traction. Cheetahs are sometimes mistaken for leopards which are much heavier animals with rosette shaped spots and no tear marks .

Size/Age/Growth

An adult cheetah weighs 80-140 pounds , is about 32 inches tall at the shoulder and 48-56 inches long from head to body with another 28-32 inches in tail - males are a little larger than females.

Habitat

Do not inhabit forests , but their habitat varies widely. Cheetahs can be found in savannas , open woodlands and in the semi-desert areas. They make ready use of any elevation , such as a termite mounds, kopjes or acacia trees which dot the landscape, in order to get a good view of its territory and potential meal .

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 1,565 meters (0 to 5,135 feet).[1]

Biome: Terrestrial

Ecology: Cheetahs are the fastest land mammals, and catch their prey , principally gazelles, in high speed chases usually between 80-112 km/hr over distances of hundreds of metres . Other prey include other small-medium sized adult ungulates and their young, as well as small prey such as hares, and also, increasingly, livestock. While cheetah females and some adult males are solitary, male brothers remain together in adulthood. Cheetahs have large home ranges on the order of 800-1,500 km² and are semi-nomadic, ranging widely to follow prey movements and avoid other large competing predators (Nowell and Jackson 1996).[2]

List of Habitats : 2.1 Savanna - Dry 3.5 Shrubland - Subtropical/Tropical Dry 4.4 Grassland - Temperate 4.5 Grassland - Subtropical/Tropical Dry 8.1 Desert - Hot 8.2 Desert - Temperate

Biology

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Diet

Preys mainly on small gazelles and antelope, hares, and ground birds; Thompson's gazelle being their food of choice . Prey is quickly consumed before other predators can steal it. Diet includes small antelope - springbok, steenbok, duikers, impala and gazelle; young warthogs, kudu, hartebeest, oryx, roan and sable; also game birds and rabbits

Reproduction

An average litter of two to five cubs is born after a 90-95 day gestation . The cubs are born unusually small at 10 oz . (280 g), because their mother would be unable to hunt if she carried them longer . By the eleventh day after birth the cubs eyes are open. The mother will move them to a different den every few days which helps to reduce the risk of a predator such as a lion, hyena or leopard sniffing them out. Even with these precautions, the cub mortality rate during the first three months is as high as 90% in many places. The mother must leave her cubs alone sometimes for up to 48 hours while hunting for food.

When the cubs are about six weeks old, they are brought out of their hidden den and will accompany their mother from then on. Weaning begins at three months and they will begin eating the prey she provides. On average, fewer than one-third of the cubs survive to adulthood. Cubs will stay with their mother from 13 to 24 months. The average life span of a cheetah (radio-collared female) in the wild is 6.9 years, while in captivity the average age increases to 11.7 years.

Behavior

Female and male cheetahs live very different lifestyles. Two groups exist in the wild populations : the family group which is made up of a female and her cubs and the male group. When the female is without cubs, she will live a solitary life. The female is not aggressive to others of her kind, and will retreat rather than fight. Female territories will often overlap and young females will occupy the same territory as their mother. Females have a much larger range than males.

The male group is made up of 2 or 3 siblings, that form coalitions which will live and hunt together for life. They share a strong social bond with one another. Unrelated males may also sometimes form groups to defend larger territories. Young males will seek out an area at a great distance from their mother. Territories are scent marked and intruders will be attacked. Males and females only mix to mate.

Cheetahs hunt by day, preferring to hunt at dawn and dusk (crepuscular). They do not usually ambush their prey or approach to within springing distance. Instead, they stalk their prey to within about 100 yards (100m). As the herd starts to run and panic it triggers a killing response in the cheetah. A cheetah depends entirely on speed when hunting; knocking over the running animal by hooking a leg under the animal using its sharp dew claw , or by knocking the animal over. Cheetahs can reach a speed approaching 70 mph(+110 kph); however this speed can be maintained for only a few hundred yards or for about one minute. If it is forced to run longer than a minute, it usually gives up the chase. A cheetah can accelerate from 0 to 45 mph (0 to 72kph) in 2 seconds. They are only successful 50% of the time while hunting.

The Cheetah is the fastest land animal, the next fastest being the North American pronghorn antelope. It is quiet and shy, cannot roar, seldom fights, and purrs when contented. Its main enemies are the lion, leopard, hyena and baboon.

Taxonomy

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Unambiguous Synonyms

  1. Acinonyx rex Pocock, 1927

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 28-Oct-2003.

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Acinonyx

There are approximately 11 species in this genus:

A. aicha · A. jubatus (Hunting Leopard) · A. jubatus hecki (Northwest African Cheetah) · A. jubatus jubatus (Hunting Leopard) · A. jubatus raineyi · A. jubatus rex (Cheetah) · A. jubatus soemmeringi (Cheetah) · A. jubatus venaticus (Asiatic Cheetah) · A. pardinensis · A. rex · A. studeri

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 17, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Mean = 317.730 meters (1,042.421 feet), Standard Deviation = 1,863.850 based on 26 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
  2. Cat Specialist Group 2002. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 19, 2008. [back]
Last Revised: 2009-05-06