Cheetah - description, habitat, lifestyle

The cheetah is a mammal predator of the cat family, a genus of cheetahs. Almost everyone knows that this beast is the fastest in the world. What else is known about these spotted animals?

Description, appearance

The cheetah is a beautiful beast: a long, slim body appears fragile, but the animal’s musculature is well developed. Although the animal belongs to the cat, but the structure of the body is a bit like a dog. The legs are long, rather thin, but strong, and the claws, as is usually the case with cats, do not retract into the paws while running - this is intended by nature so that the beast has a good grip, the claws play the role of spikes. The head is not very big, the eyes are set high, which is more typical for dogs, the ears are rounded small.

The body of a cheetah is not very long.But not short - from 1 meter 20 centimeters to one and a half meters, height from about 65 centimeters to one meter. The tail is half the length of the body - 65-75 centimeters, the cheetah weighs from 45 to 70-75 kilograms.

The fur is short, not very thick, the colors of the coastal sand, the whole skin (except for the belly) is covered with black specks of various sizes and shapes. Sometimes, in the area of ​​the head and the withers, males can have a kind of mane consisting of hard, short hair. In young cheetahs up to 2.5 months, everyone has this mane, but for many it comes out. And there are lucky ones who stay.

Where dwells

The main habitat is Africa. And it takes the whole continent. As it is easy to guess, he lives in deserts and savannas with flat terrain. Prefers open terrain, not a fan of ambushes.

There are still cheetahs living in Asia.Once, many Asian regions could boast of the presence of these proud animals in their countries. They lived in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan and other countries. But they were exterminated by man and now live only in Iran.

How does a cheetah hunt?

The cheetah leads a daytime lifestyle and is active only in sunlight, that is, during the day. And also prefers to hunt in the daytime, or rather - either in the cool morning or sometimes in the evening, but always before twilight sets in. After all, he is looking for prey visually, and not with the help of smell, so he definitely needs light. At night, the beast hunts quite rarely.

The method used by the cheetah to hunt is rather unusual: while most cats watch the future victim while in ambush, the spotted beast reaches its potential prey, chasing it. First, he looks out for an object to hunt, lying on a high hill or in the bush. Having noticed a potential victim, he tries, without unnecessary noise, to creep up as close as possible. After swiftly jumps up and overtakes the unsuspecting animal.Cheetah very quickly runs, alternating running with long long jumps. When the chase comes, the cheetah repeatedly changes the trajectory of the run, deceiving and misleading the victim.

Hunting by this method comes from the fact that the open terrain where cheetahs live does not give the conditions to find shelter and ambush. Therefore, to be well fed, the beast has to arrange short quick races. Having caught up and overtaking the prey, the predator knocks her down, hitting him with a powerful front paw, and then begins to choke. It squeezes the prey neck until the animal stops breathing.

Cheetah's speed is more than 100 km / h. The maximum officially registered speed is 112 kilometers per hour.

Although the beast has a rather large volume of lungs, such a crazy speed exhausts it. If the victim was not caught after 200-400 meters, then the beast does not pursue her anymore. And if the hunt is over successfully, while the cheetah takes breath and restores strength, other animals jump to him and, taking advantage of the hunter's weakness, disguise deserved prey.

What cheetah eats

Mostly cheetah preys on ungulates: wildebeest, zebras, gazelles. The hares coming into view also attract attention and become a dinner. And when cheetahs hunt in a group, even fleet-footed large ostriches are not able to escape from predators.

Cheetahs do not have the habit of eating carrion, even hiding their prey in the bushes and tearing only a piece from it, they never return to it. Easier and easier to arrange a hunt for new prey. And the food hidden in the bushes remains to lie there, but not for long - there are enough hunters to eat the abandoned and hidden in the desert. Hyenas, leopards, sometimes even lions appear as applicants.

Breeding

The marriage period begins in different ways, there is no fixed deadline. When the year comes, the males gather in small - 2-5 animals - groups. Usually it includes older cheetah brothers. Such a clan protects the territory with future partners from the encroachments of the males from the side.

Females reach sexual maturity at 2 years, sometimes a little later, but estrus begins earlier at about a year and a half. Another feature of these animals is that the female begins to ovulate only in one case - when the male begins to run after her. And run literally physically.During the mating games, cheetahs arrange long long runs. In all likelihood, this fact is the reason why they do not multiply in captivity - there are no conditions in the zoos to run.

Pregnancy cheetahs lasts about three months - from 85 to 95 days. Several children are born - up to 6 can be. Cubs are born blind, eyes open only after 10-15 days. The fur of small predators is long, and so that in a colorless area mother can easily find them, has a gray-blue color. Spots characteristic of cheetahs on the skin of babies do not - appear later. The little ones are decorated with peculiar identifying marks: a black-brown mane is growing on the head, and the end of the tail is equipped with a dark tassel. Somewhere in the fourth month of life, these signs disappear.

Up to three or four months, the mother feeds the offspring with milk, and then the parents slowly add meat to the diet. Mother takes care of the upbringing, children are with her for a whole year. The father does not raise offspring, but if something happens to his mother, he replaces her, becoming a good tutor and mentor.

But, unfortunately, parental care does not help many cheetahs live to even a year. Some children are eaten by stronger predators, and many kittens are awaited by genetic diseases from which they die.

The reason for these diseases is that in ancient times, when the ice age came, most of the animals died, and the cheetahs were also close to it. They left several individuals, while they were relatives. Perhaps this is the cause of disease.

The difference between cheetahs and leopards

Often people confuse between themselves two animals - a cheetah and a leopard. Both of these species are in the class of mammals, both are predators, both are related to felines. Only the genera are different: leopards are panthers, and cheetahs are a genus of cheetahs. The main differences are:

1. The body of both animals is slim and flexible. Only the cheetah stretches up to one and a half meters, and the leopard boasts 180 centimeters. And the leopard tail will be longer - up to 110 centimeters against the short tail of a cheetah - only 75 cm.
2. This is an important difference can be seen by watching the run.The speed of a cheetah is over 100 kilometers per hour, while the leopard is much slower - even at small distances it can not run faster than 60 km / h.
3. Leopard picks up the teeth and climbs feasting on the tree. The cheetah is deprived of such a habit.
4. In the case of a leopard, as in most cats, the claws retract, while in the cheetah, they retract a little bit - the main part remains outside.
5. Cheetah at night prefers to rest, hunting only during the day. The leopard also goes hunting in the twilight or at night.
6. A cheetah can hunt in a pack, and a leopard is a lone hunter.
7. The cheetah's muzzle is decorated with a distinctive sign - black stripes run from the eyes towards the mouth. Leopard is deprived of such a sign.
8. The spots that adorn the cheetah skin are clear, but they do not form or create any patterns. On the skin of a leopard, the spots are collected in sockets, and can also merge with each other and be solid.
9. In leopards, children are born with a spotty skin, while small cheetahs get spots later.
10. The cheetah lives in savannas and deserts, preferring flat terrain. Leopard lives not only in savannas, but in forests, floodplains and in mountainous areas.
11. Leopard has a much wider habitat.The cheetah lives only on the African continent, and in small numbers in Iran, and the geography of the leopard's life is much larger: in Africa, India, countries adjacent to Hindustan, in the north and south of China, in Asia, in the Far East, etc.

Subspecies

In total there are five subspecies of cheetahs. Africa is inhabited by four of them and one in Asia. More than four thousand species live on the African continent, and the Asian cheetah is very few. In total there are, according to various estimates, from 10 to 60 animals living in natural conditions, mainly in Pakistan and the mountains of Afghanistan. About two dozen live in zoos. The Asian subspecies is not very different from the African: the legs are shorter, the neck is more powerful and the skin is thicker.

Royal cheetah and other colors
Mutations in genetics lead to a change in the usual colors of cheetahs. So, a special color has a royal cheetah. Through the entire back are longitudinal dark stripes, on the sides black large merging spots form. Not only royal cheetahs have an unusual color. In nature, there are many other predators, such as:

1. Albino cheetahs - they are completely white.
2. Absolutely black cheetahs with barely noticeable spots (the so-called melanism).
3. Cheetahs are red with reddish or yellow-brown hair with pale scarlet spots.

In the deserts there are also animals with a dull and very faded coat color. Most likely, the matter is in disguise and adaptability to life under the hot rays of the sun.

Lifespan

Under natural conditions, cheetahs live up to 18–20 years, sometimes they live to the level of 25 years. In captivity, where others are better living conditions and good medicine, they can live much longer.

It happens that a cheetah chasing the victim time after time, but the attempts end in failure. After a dozen such unsuccessful attempts in a row, the beast can die from lack of food, because it completely runs out of power.

When the next attack ends unsuccessfully, the cheetah stops right there, without wasting power. It is worth the beast to run at the maximum pace for at least half a minute, as it will fall from the heat stroke, because while the animal is running, the body produces a lot of heat.

It is interesting! Hunters of ancient Egypt tamed cheetahs and used instead of helpers during the hunt.

A cheetah can go without food for about a week.

Communicating among themselves, they make no cat sounds, and not even a dog. Their communication resembles a bird's chirping.

Cheetahs are very well suited for living in arid areas. So, an adult beast can go without water for several days.

There are many predators in Africa, the weakest of them is our hero, the cheetah. Many cases when he became a victim of alligators.

Video: Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)