Cheetah is the fastest cat. Cheetah animal. Lifestyle and habitat of the cheetah Mating season for cheetahs

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The cheetah is the fastest-footed animal...

The cheetah lives on the plains of Africa, India, Western and Central Asia. On the territory of Kazakhstan at the end of the 18th - early XIX V. On the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea and in the deserts adjacent to the Aral Sea, the cheetah was found regularly. In the middle of the 19th century. on the Mangyshlak Peninsula and the Ustyurt Plateau, this predator has become very rare. Over the past 25-30 years, there is no reliable information about sightings of this predator in Kazakhstan.

Cheetahs are so different from other cats that they are classified as a special subfamily. By appearance cheetah - resembles a hound dog with long legs, a small cat-like muzzle and a long thin tail, which cheetahs use as a balance when running. Their slender, lean body with an arched back even seems fragile, but in fact they have developed muscles and practically no fat deposits. Cheetahs have fur similar to that of smooth-haired dogs. And the vague spots on the skin already resemble cat fur. The fangs are quite small, there are no powerful jaws. Cheetahs are the only felines that cannot retract their claws and they cannot climb trees. The feet are wide in relation to the size of the body. There are pads made of rough leather on the foot to soften the step. Their long, sharp claws help the cheetah stay steady while running. All these characteristics allow the cheetah to be the fastest alive dark on earth.

The color is yellowish-golden, the belly is white, there are black spots all over the body, and on the muzzle there are so-called black “tear stripes” running from the tips of the eyes to the mouth. Such protective painting makes the cheetah invisible against the background of vegetation.

In 1981, a new cheetah mutation called royal was noted at the DeWildt Cheetah Center (South Africa). Cheetahs with this coloration are extremely rare in nature. In terms of body structure, it is no different from an ordinary cheetah, but its coloring contains especially large markings, and all the spots are connected in a pattern. The first king cheetah was discovered in 1926 in Zimbabwe and was initially mistaken for new variety cheetah. Royal cheetahs can interbreed with regular cheetahs, resulting in full-fledged offspring. A royal-colored cub can be born from normal-colored parents.

Body length varies from 115 to 140 cm (average 130 cm), tail 65 - 90 cm (average 75 cm), height at the withers 79 cm.

Weight: The weight of an adult cheetah is 40-65 kg: the average weight of a male is 43 kg and 38 kg of a female.

Lifespan: Cheetahs live up to 17-20 years in captivity, and up to 8-10 in the wild.

Voice: The sound language of a predator is quite varied. In his voice you can hear almost all the sounds made by a domestic cat. The sounds made by a cheetah are similar to the abrupt chirping of a bird. They can be heard at a distance of two kilometers and allow the cheetah to communicate with its cubs and relatives. When a cheetah is happy, it begins to purr like a huge house cat. Pleasure is manifested by the sounds “wa-wa” and “nyam-nyam.” “Prr-pr” is a calm call, a very low “i-hi, i-hi” is an alarming one. When defending prey or when irritated, adult animals growl, purr, snort and click their teeth. His growl is more like a bark. The kids, fighting for the best pieces of meat brought by their parents, emit long screams and sniffle terribly, pressing their ears. When they are scared, they whistle shrilly and sharply. In response to the mother's call, they chirp quietly.

Habitat: Due to their hunting method, they prefer open spaces: savannas, semi-deserts, etc.

Enemies: The main reasons for the catastrophic decline in the number of cheetahs in all areas of its range are the development of desert areas and plowing of lands, and in this connection the disappearance of ungulates, as well as direct persecution of the cheetah by poachers.

In Africa, the cheetah is the weakest large predators . Hyenas, leopards and lions can take prey from cheetahs and kill their cubs.

he hunts small ungulates - antelopes. Most of all he likes to hunt Thompson's gazelle, impala, and wildebeest calves. Its diet also includes hares and birds. There are known cases when in arid areas a cheetah ate juicy wild melons. In zoos, he eats 2.8-3.3 kg of meat per day. Here they are fed horse meat, sometimes beef, rabbits, and chicks.

Cheetahs are diurnal predators. It goes hunting during the day or at dusk, often lying in wait for prey at a watering hole. He in the best possible way adapted to life on the plain. Keen vision allows him to see his prey. Unlike other cats, cheetahs hunt by stalking rather than by ambush. As a rule, the cheetah hunts alone. Seeing the herd, he goes around it on the leeward side and begins to crawl, pressing tightly to the ground and not taking his eyes off the antelopes. As soon as they start to worry, the cheetah freezes. It approaches its prey at a distance of up to 30 meters and makes a rapid dash.

Cheetahs push off when running at a gallop with their front and hind legs; this type of running allows them to reach speeds of up to 110 km/h and quickly change the direction of running. Incredibly, this beast can reach a speed of 65 km/h in just 2 seconds from a standstill! Usually the chase does not last long: the predator catches up with its prey before they run half a kilometer. On the most high speed a cheetah can race in 6-meter leaps. This is a sprinter: they can only withstand this speed for a short distance, after which their body overheats, and their muscles stretch from overexertion and lose elasticity. To ensure the flow of fresh air to the powerful lungs, the large and short nasal cavity serves. Cheetahs also have enlarged hearts, lungs, bronchi and tonsils to ensure maximum oxygen flow to the blood and muscles.

The prey is usually knocked down with a blow from the paw, and then strangled by clinging to its throat with a death grip. If for short time The cheetah fails to overtake its prey; it refuses to continue the hunt because, due to the enormous energy consumption, it is incapable of a long chase. To avoid mistakes, the predator chooses the weaker animal in the herd, and does it without fail. A race rarely lasts more than a minute. Approximately half of hunting attempts are successful, and the success rate for gazelle hunting was 70%.

When gnawing or tearing off pieces of meat, unlike, for example, lions and leopards, the cheetah never helps itself with its front paws. On the contrary, he pulls them under himself. A cheetah is not born a hunter, but becomes one, and only if its mother gives it an “intensive training course.” Cheetahs born in captivity do not know how to sneak up on prey and chase prey. The mother and cubs eat together very peacefully, without quarrels or fights.

Although cheetahs live on the same open plains as lions, where hyenas and wild dogs live, there is no rivalry between them, because. The cheetah hunts very fast animals, and therefore inaccessible to other predators. However, its prey cannot always be hidden, and scavengers are never against feasting on it.

Cheetahs are well adapted to living in arid areas. They do not need daily watering places. On average, they travel up to 82 km between watering holes. They have been observed to satisfy their hydration needs by drinking the blood or urine of their prey or by eating juicy melons.

In the mountains of Algeria, cheetahs constantly move from one valley to another, but at the same time they exhibit territorial behavior, marking trees (mostly tamarix) with their secretions and scratching them (mostly acacias). They rest under these trees or lie down on the lower horizontal branches. Here they hunt mainly at night.

Social structure: Cheetahs live in pairs or alone. After young cheetahs leave their mother, they stay together as a kin group for an average of about 6 months. Females separate from their siblings at around 2 years of age (usually 23 - 27 months of age). Males (siblings) usually remain together for a considerable time in a small group, up to 4 individuals. Such a group occupies an area of up to 100-150 km2.

On average, the cheetah population consists of 21% males, 47% females, and 32% juveniles: of these, 44% of juveniles are 12 to 16 months old. It has been found that only 11% of puppies survive to 4 months; 4 - 5.6% of puppies up to 14 months. Mortality from birth to maturity ranges between 90 and 98%.

Reproduction: Cheetahs form pairs during the breeding season. Males do not take part in feeding the cubs, so soon after mating the mating pair breaks up.

Typically, a female cheetah gives birth to no more than six (average 3.3) tiny cubs. Cheetahs do not make a den, and the children's room is placed right in the middle of some dense bush or thicket of tall grass, or less often in an abandoned den of other animals. Around the 10th day, cheetah cubs' eyes open. At five or six weeks of age, puppies follow their mothers. The female fearlessly protects her children and hides them very well from enemies, constantly moving children from place to place during the first months of their life. This ensures that safety and sanitation regulations are followed. However, despite all the efforts of females to protect their babies from harm, only a third of the cubs survive to adulthood. If a mother loses her pups, she can enter estrus in an average of 3 weeks and bear new offspring. It is therefore estimated that a female cheetah could give birth up to a maximum of three times a year, producing a maximum of 18 pups.

Cheetah pups are weaned at around three months of age. They stay with their mother for 13 to 20 months. At the age of one and a half years, they mark adulthood and leave their parents.

Breeding season/period: The rut is extended, but most often occurs in December-January. Peak births of kittens occur during the rainy season.

Puberty: Cheetahs reach sexual maturity on average at the age of 2-3 years (females - 24-36 months; males - 30 - 36 months).

Pregnancy: Pregnancy lasts 84-95 days.

Offspring: Cubs - 2-5 are born blind, uniformly colored. The spotted pattern appears later. Newborn cubs have darker fur, and a thick and lush ashy “mantle” stretches along the back from neck to tail. After two months, it gradually turns into a mane, revealing the spotted back, and before that, like a camouflage robe, it reliably covers each baby from enemy eyes. Cheetah babies can retract their claws, like kittens, only up to 10 - 15 weeks, later the claws become almost motionless, and according to this, the metacarpus more closely resembles a dog's. Permanent teeth replace baby teeth by about nine months.

The cheetah does not attack people. As a rare animal, the cheetah has no commercial significance and needs full protection throughout the entire range. The cheetah has a gentle and peaceful disposition. The cheetah gets used to humans very quickly and can be tamed. In India and Iran, cheetahs were domesticated, trained and used to hunt antelope. Hunting cheetahs were also known in Kievan Rus. In many parts of the Middle East, cheetahs were every rich man's favorite game animal. It is known that the Mongol emperor Akbar had a “stable” of 1000 cheetahs for hunting

A very rare, endangered animal. The entire wild population of cheetahs is estimated at approximately 8-10 thousand individuals. The largest population of cheetahs is now found in East Africa: in Kenya and Tanzania and in southern Africa: in Namibia and Botswana.

The species is listed in the IUCN Red List. The cheetah is subject to universal and complete protection. Listed on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Cheetahs apparently nearly went extinct during the last ice age. Living cheetahs are closely related, so they show signs of genetic degeneration caused by inbreeding. For example, cheetahs have a very high infant mortality rate.

The only species of a monotypic genus. Given the vastness of the cheetah's range, it naturally exhibits pronounced geographic variability. There is no consensus yet on the number of cheetah subspecies. Most zoologists agree on seven subspecies of cheetah: five in Africa and two in Asia, some of these seven recognize only two - Asian venaticus and African jubatus, which are translated from Latin as “hunting” and “having a mane.” In fact, this is not a mane, but a short mane, like a comb of slightly elongated hair.

Five African subspecies:

Acinonyx jubatus jubatus - in South Africa, 500 individuals;

Acinonyx jubatus raineyi - in Kenya, less than 3000 individuals;

Acinonyx jubatus ngorongorensis - in Tanzania and Zaire;

Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii - from Nigeria to Somalia;

Acinonyx jubatus hecki – in Algeria

Two Asian subspecies;

Acinonyx jubatus raddei - in the Caspian lowland, extremely rare, possibly already extinct;

Acinonyx jubatus venaticus - from India and the Middle East, less than 200.

It is still almost impossible to get offspring from cheetahs in zoos. There were such examples, but they can be called a happy accident. In general, zoo workers unanimously come to the conclusion that keeping these animals in captivity is extremely labor-intensive.

The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is a carnivore, the most fast mammal from the cat family, and the only modern extant representative of the genus Acinonyx to date. Many wildlife lovers know cheetahs as hunting leopards. This animal differs from most felines in a sufficient number external characteristics and morphological characteristics.

Description and appearance

All cheetahs are quite large and powerful animals with a body length of up to 138-142 cm and a tail length of up to 75 cm.. despite the fact that compared to other cats, the cheetah’s body is characterized as shorter, the weight of an adult and well-developed individual often reaches 63-65 kg. Relatively thin limbs, not only long, but also very strong, with partially retractable claws.

This is interesting! Cheetah kittens can fully retract their claws into their paws, but only up to the age of four months. Older individuals of this predator lose such unusual ability, so their claws are immobile.

The long and fairly massive tail has uniform pubescence, and during fast running, this part of the body is used by the animal as a kind of balancer. The head, which is relatively small in size, has a not very pronounced mane. The body is covered with short and thin fur of a yellowish or yellowish-sandy color. In addition to the abdominal part, small dark spots are scattered quite densely across the entire surface of the cheetah’s skin. There are also stripes of black camouflage coloring along the animal's nose.

Cheetah subspecies

According to the results of the studies, five well-recognized subspecies of cheetah are known today. One species lives in Asian countries, and the other four species of cheetah are found only in Africa.

The Asiatic cheetah is of greatest interest. About sixty individuals of this subspecies inhabit sparsely populated areas of Iran. According to some reports, several individuals could also survive in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Two dozen Asiatic cheetahs are kept in captivity in zoos in different countries.

Important! The difference between the Asian subspecies and the African cheetah are shorter legs, a fairly powerful neck and thick skin.

No less popular is the royal cheetah or the rare mutation Rex, the main difference of which is the presence of black stripes along the back and fairly large and merging spots on the sides. King cheetahs interbreed with common species, and the animal's unusual coloring is due to a recessive gene, making this predator very rare.

There are also cheetahs with very unusual fur coloring. Red cheetahs are known, as well as individuals with a golden color and pronounced dark red spots. Animals of light yellow and yellowish-brown color with pale reddish spots look very unusual.

Extinct species

This close-up view lived in Europe, which is why it was called the European cheetah. A significant part of the fossil remains of this type of predator was found in France, and date back two million years. Images of the European cheetah are also present in rock paintings in the Shuve cave.

European cheetahs were much larger and more powerful than the modern African species. They had well-defined elongated limbs, as well as large fangs. With a body weight of 80-90 kg, the length of the animal reached one and a half meters. It is assumed that significant body weight was accompanied by large muscle mass, so the running speed was an order of magnitude higher than that of modern species.

Range, habitats of cheetahs

Just a few centuries ago, cheetahs could be called a thriving species of the cat family. These mammals inhabited almost the entire territory of Africa and Asia. The subspecies of the African cheetah was distributed from the south of Morocco to the Cape of Good Hope. A significant number of Asiatic cheetahs inhabited India, Pakistan and Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Israel.

A large population could be found in Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria. This mammal was also found in the countries of the former Soviet Union. Currently, cheetahs are almost on the verge of complete extinction, so their distribution area has been greatly reduced.

Cheetah food

Cheetahs are natural predators. In pursuit of its prey, the animal is capable of developing speed more than one hundred kilometers per hour. With the help of their tail, cheetahs balance, and their claws give the animal an excellent opportunity to repeat all the movements of the prey as accurately as possible. Having overtaken the prey, the predator makes a strong strike with its paw and grabs the neck.

Food for the cheetah most often consists of small ungulates, including small antelopes and gazelles. Hares can also become prey, as well as baby warthogs and almost any birds. Unlike most other species of the cat family, the cheetah prefers daytime hunting.

Cheetah lifestyle

Cheetahs are not school animals, and a family pair, consisting of an adult male and a sexually mature female, is formed exclusively during the rutting period, but then very quickly breaks up.

The female leads a solitary life or is engaged in raising offspring. Males also live predominantly alone, but can also unite in unique coalitions. Intragroup relations are usually smooth. Animals purr and lick each other's faces. When meeting adults of different sexes belonging to different groups, cheetahs behave peacefully.

This is interesting! The cheetah belongs to the category of territorial animals and leaves various special marks in the form of excrement or urine.

The size of the hunting territory protected by the female may vary depending on the amount of food and the age of the offspring. Males do not guard one territory for too long. The animal chooses a shelter in an open, fairly visible space. As a rule, the maximum number of open area, but you can find a cheetah’s refuge under thorny acacia bushes or other vegetation. Life expectancy varies from ten to twenty years.

Features of reproduction

To stimulate the ovulation process, the male must pursue the female for some time. As a rule, adult, sexually mature male cheetahs unite in small groups, which most often consist of brothers. Such groups enter into a fight not only for hunting territory, but also for the females located on it. A pair of males can hold such a conquered territory for six months. If there are more individuals, then the territory can be protected for a couple of years or more.

After mating, the female remains pregnant for about three months, after which 2-6 small and completely defenseless kittens are born, which can become very easy prey for any predatory animals, including eagles. The salvation for kittens is the peculiar coloring of their fur, which makes them look like a very dangerous carnivorous predator - the honey badger. The cubs are born blind, covered with short yellow fur with abundant small dark spots on the sides and paws. After a couple of months, the coat completely changes, becomes quite short and stiff, and acquires a color characteristic of the species.

This is interesting! To find kittens in dense vegetation, the female focuses on the mane and tail brush of small cheetahs. The female feeds her cubs until the age of eight months, but the kittens acquire independence only at one year or later.

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

Description, appearance

Cheetah is a beautiful animal: long slim body It seems fragile, but the animal’s muscles are well developed. Although the animal is a cat, its body structure is a bit like a dog. The legs are long, rather thin, but strong, and the claws, as is usually the case in cats, do not retract into the paws while running - this is intended by nature so that the animal has good traction with the earth's surface, the claws play the role of thorns. The head is not very large, the eyes are set high, which is more typical for dogs, and the rounded ears are small.

The cheetah's body is not very long. But it’s not short either - from 1 meter 20 centimeters to one and a half meters, height from about 65 centimeters to one meter. The length of 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 color of coastal sand, the entire skin (except the belly) is strewn with black spots of the most different sizes and forms. Sometimes in the area of the head and withers, males may have a kind of mane, consisting of coarse short hair. Young cheetahs up to 2.5 months old all have this mane, but many lose it. And there are lucky ones who still have it.

A distinctive decoration of the muzzle are the so-called “tear marks” - two black stripes going from the eye to the mouth. They are applied by nature for a specific purpose - thanks to them, the animal better focuses its gaze on the intended prey when hunting. And these marks also protect the predator’s eyes from bright sun rays, preventing him from going blind when looking at the sun.

Where does it live?

The main habitat is Africa. And it occupies the entire continent. As you might guess, it lives in deserts and savannas with flat terrain. Prefers open areas and is not a fan of ambushes.

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

Cheetah leads daytime look life and is active only when sunlight, that is, during the day. And he also prefers to hunt in daytime day, or rather, either in the cool morning or in the evening, but always before dusk comes. After all, he looks for prey visually, and not with the help of smell, so he definitely needs light. The animal hunts quite rarely at night.

The method used by the cheetah for hunting is quite unusual: while most felines guard the future victim while in ambush, the spotted animal reaches potential prey by chasing it. First, it looks for an object to hunt, lying on a high hill or in thickets of bushes. Having noticed a potential victim, he tries to crawl as close as possible without unnecessary noise. close distance. Then it quickly jumps up and overtakes the unsuspecting animal. The cheetah runs very quickly, alternating running with long, sustained jumps. During the chase, the cheetah repeatedly changes its running trajectory, deceiving and misleading the prey.

It is necessary to hunt using this method because the open area where cheetahs live does not provide conditions for finding cover and making an ambush. Therefore, in order to be fed, the animal has to run short, fast runs. Having caught up and overtaken the prey, the predator knocks it down, hitting it with its powerful front paw, and then begins to strangle it. It squeezes the prey's neck until the animal stops breathing.

The speed of a cheetah is more than 100 km/h. The maximum officially registered speed is 112 kilometers per hour.

Although the animal has a considerable lung capacity, such a frantic speed exhausts it. If the victim was not caught after 200-400 meters, then bigger beast doesn't haunt her. And if the hunt ends successfully, then while the cheetah is catching its breath and regaining strength, other animals jump up to it and, taking advantage of the hunter’s weakness, steal their well-deserved prey.

What does a cheetah eat?

The cheetah mainly hunts ungulates: wildebeest, zebras, gazelles. Hares that come into view also attract attention and become lunch. And when cheetahs hunt in a group, even large, fleet-footed ostriches are unable to escape from predators.

Cheetahs do not have the habit of eating carrion; even after hiding their prey in the bushes and tearing off only a piece of it, they never return to it. It’s simpler and easier to hunt for new prey. And the food hidden in the bushes remains there, although not for long - there are plenty of hunters to eat what is thrown and hidden in the desert. Hyenas, leopards, sometimes even lions are contenders.

Reproduction

Mating season It starts in different ways, there is no clearly established deadline. When the year comes, males gather in small groups of 2-5 animals. This usually includes cheetah brothers who have reached the age of maturity. Such a clan protects the territory with future partners from encroachments by males from outside.

Females reach sexual maturity at 2 years, sometimes a little later, but estrus begins earlier - at about one and a half years. 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 mating games Cheetahs go on long, long runs. In all likelihood, this fact is the reason why they do not reproduce in captivity - in zoos there are no conditions for running.

A cheetah's pregnancy lasts about three months- from 85 to 95 days. Several children are born - maybe up to 6. Cubs are born blind, their eyes open only after 10-15 days. The fur of small predators is long, and so that mother can easily find them in colorless areas, it has a gray-blue color. There are no spots characteristic of cheetahs on the skin of babies - they appear a little later. The babies are decorated with unique identification marks: a black-brown mane grows 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.

Until three or four months, the mother feeds the offspring with milk, and then the parents slowly add meat to the diet. The mother is involved in upbringing; the children are with her for the whole year. The father does not raise his offspring, but if something happens to the mother, he replaces her, becoming a good educator and mentor.

But, unfortunately, parental care does not help many cheetahs survive even to a year. Some children are eaten more than strong predators, and many kittens suffer from genetic diseases from which they die.

The reason for these diseases is that in ancient times, during the onset of the Ice Age, most of the animals died, and cheetahs were also close to this. There were only a few of them left, but they were related. Perhaps this is the cause of the disease.

Difference between cheetahs and leopards

People often confuse two animals with each other - the cheetah and the leopard. Both of these species are included in the class of mammals, both are predators, both are related to cats. Only the genera are different: leopards are panthers, and cheetahs are a genus of cheetahs. Main differences:

The body of both animals is slender and flexible. Only the cheetah stretches up to one and a half meters, and the leopard can boast 180 centimeters. And the leopard’s tail will be longer - up to 110 centimeters versus the short tail of the cheetah - only 75 cm.
This important difference can be noticed while watching a run. The speed of a cheetah is over 100 kilometers per hour, while the leopard is much slower - even at short distances it cannot run faster than 60 km/h.
The leopard takes its prey in its teeth and climbs up a tree to feast. The cheetah is deprived of such a habit.
A leopard, like most cats, has claws that retract, but a cheetah's claws retract a little - the main part remains outside.
The cheetah prefers to rest at night, hunting only during the day. The leopard goes hunting at dusk or at night.
A cheetah can hunt in a pack, while a leopard is a solitary hunter.
The cheetah's muzzle is decorated with a distinctive sign - black stripes run from the eyes towards the mouth. The leopard is deprived of such a sign.
The spots that decorate 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 rosettes, and they can also merge with each other and be solid.
Leopards' babies are born with a spotted coat, while small cheetahs acquire spots later.
The cheetah lives in savannas and deserts, preferring flat landscapes. The leopard lives not only in savannas, but in forests, floodplains and mountainous areas.
The leopard has a much wider habitat. The cheetah lives only on African continent, and in small quantities in Iran, and the geography of the leopard’s residence is much larger: in Africa, India, countries adjacent to Hindustan, in the north and south of China, in Asia, the Far East, etc.

Subspecies

There are five subspecies of cheetahs. Four of them inhabit Africa and one is in Asia. More than four thousand species live on the African continent, and the Asiatic cheetah is very few in number. 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 does not differ very much from the African one: the legs are shorter, the neck is more powerful, and the skin is thicker.

Royal cheetah and other colors
Mutations in genetics lead to changes in the usual colors of cheetahs. Thus, the royal cheetah has a special color. Longitudinal dark stripes run across the entire back, and large merging spots appear black on the sides. It's not just royal cheetahs that have unusual colors. There are many other predators in nature, such as:

Albino cheetahs are completely white.
Absolutely black cheetahs with barely noticeable spots (so-called melanism).
Cheetahs are red in color with reddish or yellow-brown fur with pale scarlet spots.

In deserts there are also animals with dull and very faded coat color. Most likely, the point here is camouflage and adaptation to life under the hot rays of the sun.

Lifespan

In natural conditions, cheetahs live up to 18-20 years, sometimes living up to 25 years. In captivity, where there are better living conditions and good medicine, they can live much longer.

It happens that a cheetah chases its prey over and over again, but the attempts end in failure. After ten such unsuccessful attempts in a row, the animal may die from lack of food because it will completely exhaust its strength.

When the next attack ends unsuccessfully, the cheetah immediately stops without wasting any strength. As soon as the animal runs at maximum speed for at least half a minute, he will fall from the received heatstroke, because while the animal is running, the body generates a lot of heat.

Sometimes in natural conditions a cheetah encounters lions. Having not managed to escape, the cheetah usually remains defeated - the forces are not equal. The cheetah has only one way to escape - to quickly run away.

This is interesting! Hunters Ancient Egypt cheetahs were tamed and used as assistants during hunting.

A cheetah can go without food for about a week.

When communicating with each other, they make not cat sounds, and not even dog sounds. Their communication resembles the chirping of birds.

Cheetahs are very well adapted to life in arid areas. Thus, an adult animal can go without water for several days.

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

Video: Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)

In the Middle Ages, eastern princes called cheetahs pardus, that is, hunting ones, and “went” with them to hunt game. In the 14th century, an Indian ruler named Akbar had 9 thousand predators trained in hunting. Today their number in the world does not exceed 4.5 thousand.

Animal cheetah is a predator from the large cat family. The beast stands out for its incredible speed, spotted color and claws, which, unlike most cats, it cannot “hide”.

Features and habitat

Cheetah is a wild animal, which only partially resembles cats. The animal has a slender, muscular body resembling more dog, and high-set eyes.

A small head with rounded ears gives the cat away as a predator. It is this combination that allows the beast to instantly accelerate. As is known in the world there is no animal faster than a cheetah .

An adult animal reaches 140 centimeters in length and 90 in height. Wild cats weigh on average 50 kilograms. Scientists have found that predators have spatial and binocular vision, which helps them in hunting.

A cheetah can reach speeds of up to 120 km/h

As can be seen by photo of cheetah, the predator has a sandy-yellow color. Only the belly, like many domestic cats, is white. At the same time, the body is covered with small black spots, and on the “face” there are thin black stripes.

Nature “inflicted” them for a reason. The strips act like sunglasses for people: slightly reducing exposure bright sun, and allow the predator to look at long distances.

Males boast a small mane. However, at birth, all kittens “wear” a silver mane on their backs, but by about 2.5 months, it disappears. Characteristically, cheetahs’ claws never retract.

Only Iriomotean and Sumatran cats can boast of this feature. The predator uses its feature when running, for traction, as spikes.

Cheetah cubs are born with a small mane on their heads.

Nowadays there are 5 subspecies of the predator:

4 species of African cheetah;
Asian subspecies

Asians are distinguished by thicker skin, powerful necks and slightly shortened paws. In Kenya you can find the black cheetah. Previously they tried to attribute it to separate species, but later found out that this is an intraspecific gene mutation.

Also, among the spotted predators you can find an albino and a royal cheetah. The so-called king is distinguished by long black stripes along the back and a short black mane.

Previously, predators could be observed in various Asian countries, but now they are almost completely exterminated there. The species has completely disappeared in countries such as Egypt, Afghanistan, Morocco, Western Sahara, Guinea, UAE and many others. Only in African countries today can spotted predators be found in sufficient numbers.

The photo shows a king cheetah, it is distinguished by two dark lines along its back

Character and lifestyle of the cheetah

Cheetah is the fastest animal. This could not but affect his lifestyle. Unlike many predators, they hunt in the daytime. Animals live exclusively on open space. The predator avoids thickets.

Most likely this is due to the fact that the animal's speed is 100-120 km/h. Cheetah when running, he takes about 150 breaths in 60 seconds. So far, a kind of record has been set for the beast. A female named Sarah ran the 100-meter dash in 5.95 seconds.

Unlike most cats, cheetahs try not to climb trees. Dull claws prevent them from clinging to the trunk. Animals can live alone or in small groups. They try not to conflict with each other.

They communicate using purrs and sounds reminiscent of chirping. Females mark territory, but its boundaries depend on the presence of offspring. At the same time, the animals are not known for their cleanliness, so the territory is quickly changed.

The black stripes near the eyes serve as “sunglasses” for the cheetah.

Tamed cheetahs resemble dogs in character. They are loyal, loyal and trainable. It’s not for nothing that they were kept at court for many centuries and used as hunters. IN animal world cheetahs They take lightly to intrusion into their territories; the insolent person receives only a contemptuous look from the owner, without a fight or showdown.

Nutrition

When hunting, this wild animal trusts its vision more than its sense of smell. The cheetah chases animals that are approximately its own size. Predator victims include:

gazelles;
calves;
impalas;

Goitered gazelles become the main diet of Asiatic cheetahs. Because of their lifestyle, predators never sit in ambush. Most often, the victim even sees his danger, but due to the fact that cheetah is the fastest animal in the world, in half the cases, can’t do anything about it. The predator catches up with its prey in several jumps, with each jump lasting only half a second.

True, after this, the runner needs to take a breather for half an hour. At this point, stronger predators, namely leopards and cheetahs, can deprive the cheetah of its lunch.

By the way, it never feeds on carrion, and only eats what it catches itself. Sometimes the animal hides its prey in the hope of returning for it later. But other predators usually manage to feast on other people’s works faster than him.

Reproduction and lifespan

Even with reproduction, things are a little different for cheetahs than for other cats. The female begins to ovulate only if the male runs after her for a long time. Moreover, in literally words.

This is a long distance race. This is actually why cheetahs almost never breed in captivity. Zoos and nurseries are unable to recreate natural conditions.

In the photo there is a cheetah cub

The gestation period lasts about three months, after which 2-6 cubs are born. The kittens are helpless and blind, and so that the mother can find them, a thick silver mane grows on their back.

Up to three months, kittens feed on their mother's milk, then their parents introduce meat into their diet. By the way, the father is involved in raising the offspring, and takes care of the babies if something happens to the female.

Despite parental care, more than half of cheetahs do not reach the age of one year. Firstly, some of them become prey for other predators, and secondly, kittens die from genetic diseases.

Scientists believe that during the Ice Age they almost went extinct, and the individuals living today are close relatives of each other.

Cheetah is a red book animal. For many centuries, predators were caught and trained to hunt. Since they could not reproduce in captivity, the animals slowly died out.

Today there are about 4.5 thousand individuals. Cheetahs live quite a long time. In nature - 12-20 years, and in zoos - even longer. This is due to quality medical care.

Asiatic or Iranian cheetah.

Area: sparsely populated areas of Iran - the provinces of Markazi, Fars and Khorasan. Presumably, a few individuals remain in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The state of the population is critical and is considered endangered. The subspecies only survives in Iran.

In Uzbekistan, it disappeared in the Kyzylkum desert in the 19th century, in Ustyurt in the 1960-1970s. 13 individuals were counted; not seen after 1973.

Previously considered an Asian subspecies, it lived throughout southeast Asia from India to the Middle East. Then the northeastern African populations (Egypt, Djibouti, etc.) were included in it. However, even then many researchers doubted the correctness of this decision. A. j. was then added to the subspecies. raddei. On at the moment scientists came to the conclusion that the Asiatic cheetah is a separate subspecies and classified the northeastern cheetahs as the subspecies A. j. soemmeringii.

The results of a five-year study involving genetic DNA samples from wild, zoo and museum exhibits in 8 countries have proven that African and Asian cheetahs are genetically different. They separated 32,000-67,000 years ago and subspecies level differentiation occurred.

Asiatic cheetahs are slimmer, lighter and slightly shorter than their African brothers. The length of the head and body of an adult cheetah is 112-135 cm, tail length 66-84 cm, weight 34-54 kg. Males are slightly larger than females.

Asiatic cheetah slightly, but differs from the African in shorter legs, a powerful neck and thicker skin.

Females, unlike males, do not create personal territories, but move within their habitat, sometimes migrating over long distances. Photographs from the camera trap showed that one female migrated 130 km, crossing railway and two major highways.

Hunts small antelopes. In Iran, its diet consists mainly of Bennett's gazelle (or chinkara), goitered gazelle, wild sheep, wild goats and hares. The main threat to the species is the loss of its main prey due to poaching and grazing livestock. Hares and rodents included in the cheetah's diet, due to their small size and difficulty in catching, are only additional food.

In India, before disappearing from the country, the cheetah hunted garn, Indian gazelles, and sometimes axis and nilgai.

Since British colonial times in India it was called the game leopard and was kept in captivity in Indian princely courts in large numbers for hunting wild antelope. In Dutch the cheetah is still called jachtluipaard. In Hindi, the word चीता cītā is derived from the Sanskrit word chitraka, meaning "variegated".

Asiatic cheetahs were distributed from the Arabian Peninsula to India, through Iran, Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Turkish population became extinct already in the 19th century. In Afghanistan, Asiatic cheetahs have been considered extinct since 1950.

In India, Asiatic cheetahs were found in Rajputana, Punjab, Sindh and south of the Ganges from Bengal to the northern Deccan Plateau. They also lived in other parts of India, including Kaimur district (now eastern Uttar Pradesh, near Bihar), Darrah and other desert areas of Rajasthan and parts of Gujarat in Central India. Akbar the Great allegedly owned 1,000 cheetahs, but this figure is clearly exaggerated. By the beginning of the 20th century wild cheetahs became so rare in India that between 1918-1945 Indian princes imported cheetahs for hunting from Africa. The last three cheetahs in India were killed by the Maharaja of Surguja in 1948. Additionally, a female was discovered in the Koriya district in 1951.

IN Central Asia uncontrolled hunting of cheetahs and their prey, harsh winters and the conversion of pastures into farmland contributed to sharp decline number of cheetahs. Latest message about a cheetah from Uzbekistan was at the end of 1983, from Turkmenistan about the last one killed was November 1984.

The Asiatic cheetah lives primarily in Iran's vast central desert in fragmented patches of suitable habitat.

Cheetahs prefer small plains, semi-desert areas and other open habitats where prey is available. The Asiatic cheetah lives primarily in the desert areas around Dasht-e Kavir in the eastern half of Iran, including parts of the provinces of Kerman, Khorasan, Semnan, Yazd, Tehran and Markazi. Most of them live in five reserves: National Park Kavir, Touran National Park, Bafq Protected Area, Daranjir Nature Reserve and Naybandan Nature Reserve. The remaining cheetahs are isolated and consist of widely separated populations. Perhaps some survived in the dry, open part of Balochistan province in Pakistan, but local residents claim that they have not seen a cheetah for more than 15 years.

In the 1970s, cheetahs in Iran numbered about 200 individuals in seven protected areas. natural areas. Data for 2005-2006. it has been suggested that there are only 50-60 cheetahs in the wild. Using 80 camera traps installed across the Dasht-e Kavir plateau, Iranian scientists captured images of 76 individual cheetahs over a 10-year period starting in 2001. Camera traps since 2011 have recorded only 20 individuals in Iran, but some areas have not been surveyed. In November 2013, it was announced that there were only 40-70 cheetahs left in Iran. There are another 23 individuals in zoos around the world.

In December 2014, four cheetahs were spotted and photographed by camera traps in Touran National Park. Eleven cheetahs were also spotted at the same time and four months later. In July 2015, eight new cheetahs (five adults and three kittens) were spotted at Khar Touran.

Recordings of a mother cheetah with her cubs are extremely rare. In May 2013, a camera trap captured a mother with three cubs, approximately 1 year old, in the Miandasht Nature Reserve in northeastern Iran. In October 2013, a mother was filmed with four kittens in a Touran.

The main reasons for the decline in the population are the decline in the number of wild ungulates and persecution by humans.