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Who is a cheetah? Cheetah is the fastest cat. Mating season for cheetahs

Everyone knows that cheetahs are the fastest cats in the world. When chasing prey, they can reach speeds of approximately 115 km per hour in 2 seconds. These predators live in most African countries.

In mammals of this species slim body with well-developed muscles. The head is relatively large size, rounded ears and high-set eyes. This aerodynamic body structure is necessary for better streamlining, which is why cheetahs can run at such incredible speed. IN chest There are large-volume lungs that promote intense breathing - saturate the body with oxygen. The weight of an adult cheetah can be from 40 to 70 kg. The body length is about 120–140 cm. And the height at the withers is from 78 to 100 cm. The massive tail of a cheetah is 75–80 cm long. The legs are long and thin, but strong.

The fur of these wild cats is thick, sandy-yellow, and there are dark spots all over the skin, except the belly. various shapes and size. A more expressive and terrifying appearance of the cheetah is given by black stripes that go down to the mouth from the inner corners of the eyes.

Cheetahs hunt mainly in the morning, when it is still cool and light, or in the evening, but before dusk. They most often track prey visually rather than by smell. These predators overtake potential prey as a result of pursuit, combining long jumps (up to 7 m) and very fast running. This method of hunting is determined by the habitat, because on open area it is difficult to find shelter, so cheetahs have to run races for their food. These animals eat: gazelles, wildebeest calves, impalas, hares, and sometimes even ostriches.

Male cheetahs, at a certain period suitable for reproduction, unite in groups (3-4 individuals). They guard the females and make sure that no one encroaches on their territory.

After pregnancy, which lasts approximately 90 days, blind and helpless kittens are born. The female takes care of them herself for almost a year, feeds them and teaches them to hunt.

The lifespan of these animals is wildlife– 20 years. In captivity, cheetahs live 25 years or more. For a comfortable existence in zoos they need good food and quality care.

Report 2

Cheetah is predatory mammals belonging to the cat family. Its current habitat is most African countries and central part Iran. However, in past centuries, cheetahs could also be found in lowland areas Central Asia, Persia, India. They were often tamed and kept as pets or used as assistants during hunting. This is confirmed by chronicles and ancient images.

By appearance and the habits of the cheetah are seriously different from other animals of the cat family. It has a slender, muscular body, the length of which can reach 115-150 centimeters. There are almost no fat deposits. On the small head, rounded ears and eyes are located quite high. It is interesting that this mammal is characterized not only by binocular, but also by spatial vision, therefore it is able to accurately calculate the distance separating it from the prey.

The chest is large, the lungs are also enlarged and allow you to take up to 150 breaths per minute, which is important when running. Thin, strong legs and tail are also adapted for fast running. In just 2 seconds, a cheetah can reach a speed that can be compared to the speed of a racing car, and thanks to long tail he masterfully balances and maintains balance on turns, chasing prey.

The color of the short coat is sandy yellow with numerous black spots. There are dark stripes on the muzzle (on the sides of the nose), which allow it to camouflage among the grass and remain unnoticed by the object of the hunt.

Cheetahs prefer to lead daytime look life. They do not like to live for a long time in the same place. Most often they hunt in the early morning or evening. There are no ambushes. Having overtaken the prey (gazelle, hare, wildebeest or antelope), they knock it down with a blow of their paw, and then strangle it.

Females give birth to 1-5 blind, defenseless babies. They care for, educate and teach their offspring all the necessary skills on their own. They leave their cubs when they are 1.5-2 years old and they already know how to take care of themselves. They contact males only during the mating period. By nature they are loners, but males can sometimes create coalitions.

The average lifespan of cheetahs in the wild is 12 years. In captivity, they can live up to 15 years. Due to the peculiarities of the gene pool and mass extermination by humans, today they are on the verge of extinction.

1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th grade. The world around us

Ecology

Asiatic cheetah, one of the rarest animals on the planet, is trying to attack livestock in areas where wild food supplies are running low, new research has found.

An international team of scientists working in Iran examined what these animals eat in areas where their numbers are declining due to poaching. Big cats have been found to prey on domestic animals as they cannot survive on small prey. To save cheetahs it is necessary to protect them from poachers and conflicts with local farmers.

The Asiatic cheetah is an extremely rare subspecies of cheetah that is found in Asia. It was believed that these animals were able to survive by feeding on rabbits and hares in areas where medium-sized ungulates had already become extinct. However, research has shown that this is not the case.

Scientists spent 5 years studying cheetahs in two reserves in northeastern Iran, near the border with Turkmenistan. Previously wild ungulates, including gazelles, wild sheep and goats, have disappeared in these places.

Having analyzed the excrement big cats, scientists were able to understand what cheetahs eat in these places. Studies have shown that although rabbits and hares are part of the cheetah's diet, they do not provide them with the necessary dose of nutrients. Cheetahs prefer medium-sized herbivores and will attack livestock if necessary.

The researchers reported that local herders may be completely unaware that their livestock is being attacked by Asiatic cheetahs, as these animals are very rare. However, in order to avoid future conflicts with local authorities, the researchers recommend introducing additional laws against poaching, as well as somehow improving the reserves so that rare cheetahs do not disappear from these places forever.

Asiatic cheetahs in Iran can be compared to pandas in China or tigers in India as symbols of wildlife conservation. Some experts claim that there were only 200 individuals living in Iran in the 1970s, and today there are no more than 70 Asiatic cheetahs left in the wild.

This small predator - the cheetah's body length does not exceed 130 centimeters - hunts antelope, as well as smaller mammals and birds. Cheetahs are considered the fastest cats and the fastest land creatures. They can reach speeds of up to 110 kilometers per hour.

The cheetah is widespread in Africa, India, South-West, Western and Central Asia. Currently Asiatic cheetah practically disappeared. IN Saudi Arabia predator last time sighted in 1950, the last cheetah in India was killed in 1955. It is rarely found in Armenia and Azerbaijan. They were last seen in Turkmenistan in the 1960s. Of the entire vast range in Asia, a small area remains in Iran.

In Africa, the cheetah has survived only in remote places or in protected areas. On cheetah protection The world community has risen up, and it is listed in the International Red Book as an animal that is in danger of complete extinction. Whether it will be possible to preserve this predator in the wild now depends only on humans.

The cheetah's body is slender, with developed muscles and practically no fat deposits, it seems fragile. The cheetah has a small head, high-set eyes and small rounded ears. The color is sandy-yellow, with small black spots scattered throughout the body, and thin black stripes on the sides of the muzzle. The weight of an adult cheetah is 40-65 kg, body length is from 115 to 140 cm, a rather massive tail is up to 80 cm long.

Cheetahs hunt mainly small ungulates - gazelles, impalas, wildebeest calves - as well as hares. Cheetahs usually hunt early in the morning or in the evening, when it is no longer very hot, but there is still enough light. They navigate more by sight than by smell.

Unlike other felines, cheetahs hunt by stalking prey rather than by ambush. First, they approach the chosen victim at a distance of about 10 meters, and then try to catch it in a short race. In pursuit of the victim, it reaches speeds of up to 110-115 km/h, accelerating to 75 km/h in 2 seconds. The animal runs in jumps 6-8 m long, spending less than 0.5 seconds on each jump. The cheetah is also capable of quickly changing the direction of its run. Prey is usually knocked down with a blow from the paw and then strangled. 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. A race rarely lasts more than a minute. Despite high speed, about half of the chases end unsuccessfully.

In Africa, the cheetah is the weakest of the large predators. Hyenas, leopards and lions can take prey from cheetahs, taking advantage of the fact that a cheetah needs up to half an hour to rest after a chase.

Cheetahs almost 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 very high level infant mortality: up to 70% of cubs do not survive to one year.

Pregnancy in cheetahs lasts 85-95 days, from two to five kittens are born. Kittens remain with their mother for 13 to 20 months.

In the wild, cheetahs live on average up to 20, sometimes up to 25 years; in zoos - much longer.

Using a cheetah for hunting.

The cheetah's great natural hunting abilities, peaceful disposition and easy tameability have prompted hunters in many countries since ancient times. use a cheetah as a hunting animal.

The first information about the use of cheetahs for hunting dates back to 1580-1345 BC. In ancient Thebes, images of two cheetahs kept on leashes were found. Many centuries ago, cheetahs were hunted in many Asian countries. The hunt with cheetahs was especially grandiose in India, where greatest distribution she received in the XVI and in early XVII century.

The size of the hunt can be judged by the fact that Khan Akbar during his reign kept up to 1000 cheetahs at a time - they were caught with loops of antelope tendons placed near the trees on which the animals came to sharpen their claws.

The first mention of hunting with cheetahs in Europe dates back to 439 AD, when two hunting cheetah, with which he hunted deer. The news has been preserved that in 1100, when the Lombard crusaders approached Constantinople, the Greeks released lions and cheetahs kept in the palace on them, and the latter did not attack the attackers.

Byzantine miniatures of the 12th-13th centuries often depicted hunting with cheetahs, especially deer and fallow deer. European feudal lords kept cheetahs for hunting and set up “leoparderies” - special premises where the animals were kept. Trainers and other personnel caring for the animals were present with the predators. In France, people hunted with cheetahs already in the 11th century.

During the Renaissance in this country, cheetahs were so common on the estates of lords that they are mentioned in most literary works of that time and are often depicted on tapestries.

There are many historical information about hunting with cheetahs in Italy. Thus, Frederick II, Emperor of the Roman Empire, had a leoparderia in the castle of Lucera in Apulia. Cheetahs were delivered to him from North Africa. Louis XII hunted hares and roe deer with cheetahs in the Amboise forest. Hunting with cheetahs in Europe required large expenses for the acquisition and maintenance of hunting animals and was available only to large feudal lords. As the feudal states died out, hunting with these predators became more rare and ceased around the beginning of the 18th century.

In the Middle Ages, hunting with cheetahs was practiced in Kievan Rus and the Moscow Principality, and on the territory of modern Central Asian and Transcaucasian states and in Kazakhstan it existed until the 19th century inclusive. IN Ancient Rus' The cheetah was called “pardus”, and the people involved in their training were called “pardusniks”.

The cheetah (lat. Acinonyx jubatus - “non-moving claws”) is a mammal of the cat family.
Previously, cheetahs, due to their special body structure, were classified as an independent subfamily of cheetahs (Acinonychinae), but molecular genetic studies revealed their close relationship with the genus puma, which is why they began to be classified as a subfamily of small cats (Felinae). In many European languages, the word "cheetah" comes from the medieval Latin gattus pardus, meaning "leopard cat."
Cheetahs are diurnal predators. Unlike other felines, cheetahs hunt by stalking prey rather than by ambush. First, they approach the chosen victim at a distance of 25 - 27 meters (while practically not hiding), and then try to catch it in a short race. Having overtaken the prey, the cheetah hits it with its front paws and immediately grabs its throat with its teeth. The blow is so strong that the victim flies head over heels. The kinetic energy carried by the body of an animal galloping at incredible speed helps knock down animals larger and heavier than itself. If in a 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. A race rarely lasts more than a minute. After a successful hunt, the cheetah cannot immediately start eating, as it needs rest after a grueling chase. Hyenas and lions often take advantage of this, robbing an exhausted hunter of his prey.
The cheetah is the fastest land animal. Its super-elastic spine and long legs allow it to accelerate to 75 km/h in 2 seconds and to 110 km/h in 3 seconds, which exceeds the acceleration performance of most sports cars. There is a known case when a cheetah covered a distance of about 650 meters in 20 seconds, which corresponds to a speed of 120 km per hour. The absolute speed record for a cheetah is 128 km per hour. The cheetah jumps 4.5 meters in height, which is again a record among terrestrial mammals. A cheetah can jump 7-8 meters in length. You can read about other record holders among animals.

The cheetah is an endangered species. Zoologists have found that not all adult females living in national parks Africa, bear offspring, and those that participate in reproduction give offspring less often than others large predators. In modern cheetahs, due to closely related breeding, the body's immunoprotective reactions are sharply weakened, and therefore 70 percent of the young die from various diseases. Currently, there are about 12,400 cheetahs left in the wild, the vast majority in Africa, about 50 individuals live in Iran.

The amazing sprinting abilities of the cheetah have been noticed and used by people for a very long time. Since ancient times, the cheetah has been used as a hunting animal in Egypt, Asia and Europe. Many images have been preserved: cheetahs in collars and on leashes obediently walk at the feet of horses.

The best description of exactly how they hunted with a cheetah (though at a later time) was left to us by the Venetian merchant Marco Polo, who made his famous journey to Central Asia. He lived at the court of Kublai Khan, in his summer residence in Karakorum. Marco Polo counted about a thousand tame cheetahs here. Some were led to hunt on leashes, others somehow managed to sit on horses behind the riders. To prevent the animals from rushing ahead in pursuit of game, cheetahs had caps on their heads that covered their eyes, like those worn on hunting falcons. Having surrounded a herd of antelopes or deer and approached them at the required distance, the hunters quickly removed the caps from the cheetahs, freed them from the leashes, and the animals rushed into a lightning-fast raid on the prey. Cheetahs were trained to hold a captured antelope tightly until the hunters approached. The cheetahs immediately received a reward: the insides of the hunted antelope.

IN XI-XII centuries and the Russian princes chased saigas with cheetahs across the steppe expanse. In Rus', hunting cheetahs were called pardus; they were greatly valued and cherished. To care for them, the princely courts had special “dog hounds” - pards.

The last hunt involving cheetahs took place in India in 1942.

The cheetah is one of the most predatory and fastest animals on the planet, which are part of the cat family. It should be noted that in speed the cheetah is second only to the jaguar, but the most maximum speed The speed that a cheetah can reach will be approximately 110 to 115 km/h.

The population of this mammal species is not high.

Cheetah - description, structure, characteristics

According to their own anatomical features The cheetah is a little similar to domestic cats, but the difference between them is not only in size, because the cheetah’s body has a slightly long shape.

At the same time, at first glance it may seem that this animal is not able to survive in such harsh and harsh conditions, but thanks to its well-developed muscles, the cheetah is able to instantly gain high speed to hunt for prey.

The special structural features of the cheetah are its long but very strong legs, the body is oblong in shape, and the head is small.

Body size adult can reach up to 1.5 meters, but its tail can measure about 80 cm; in height, almost all cheetahs are the same size, so the height of an adult individual can reach up to 1 meter. But its weight can be different and range from 50 to 80 kg.

The color of the cheetah, as a rule, has a sandy or dark yellow tint, only the belly of the animal has white color, while there are small black spots on the entire body of the animal, with the exception of the belly.

How long does a cheetah live?

As a rule, almost all cheetahs in wild conditions can live up to a maximum of 25 years, however this figure can increase significantly if they are kept in captivity under constant supervision.

Where does the cheetah live?

The habitat of this predator is open and level terrain, where there is plenty of free space for viewing and selecting prey.

The habitat of this animal species is distributed throughout almost the entire territory of the African continent, and is less common in the Asian region.

Subspecies of cheetahs, photos and names

Currently, scientists have 5 subspecies of cheetahs, almost all of them live in Africa, and only one species can very rarely be found in the Asian region.

So as of 2007 on African continent According to scientists, about 4,500 cheetahs were identified.

This population is considered to be very small, so these mammalian predators are listed in the Red Book.

So, there are four subspecies that live in Africa:

Acinonyx jubatus hecki
Acinonyx jubatus fearsoni
Acinonyx jubatus jubatus
Acinonyx jubatus soemmerringi

But the subspecies of cheetahs, which is found in Asia, “Acinonyx jubatus venaticus” or Asiatic cheetah, mainly lives in Iran. This type of animal has a very small population, and their number does not even reach 100 individuals.

The distinctive features of the Asiatic cheetah from the African ones are its body structure. This is how Asian cheetahs have short, but very strong and powerful legs, a fairly powerful neck, and also a very thick skin.

King Cheetah

IN natural nature Cheetahs may have a body color that is not typical for cheetahs; this can be seen very, very rarely. Such an uncharacteristic color for cheetahs can only be due to a gene mutation.

The color itself has next view— along the entire length of the animal’s back there are black stripes, and along the rest of the body there are black spots of various sizes. Individuals of this species were first discovered in the late 20s of the last century.

However long time many scientists believed that the king cheetah was created by hybridizing a leopard with a cheetah. But already in the early 80s of the last century, an event occurred that provided an answer to the origin of the royal cheetah.

In a special scientific center cheetahs "De Wildt" from individuals with a normal color, a small cheetah with an unusual color was born.

How does a cheetah hunt?

The cheetah is active mainly during the day, when there is very good visibility. As a rule, the cheetah prefers to hunt at prime time or in the evening, but when it is not yet completely dark. The fact is that the cheetah does not like to hunt at night.

The process of hunting a cheetah is as follows: the cheetah does not attack its prey from cover, but catches its prey in pursuit, alternating a very high-speed run with long and powerful jumps of the cheetah.

While pursuing its prey during the chase, a cheetah can instantly change its direction of movement.

The cheetah knocks down its prey with one blow of its paw, after which it strangles its caught victim.

It should be noted that if the victim still escapes during the cheetah's pursuit, then he leaves the victim alone. So, while chasing a prey, a cheetah spends quite a lot of energy, so it is easier for a cheetah to let go of a potential victim than to chase it for a long time.

In this case, he will definitely repeat his new attempt until he catches food for himself.

What does a cheetah eat?

The basis of the cheetah's diet consists of ungulates; it is also not uncommon for a cheetah to eat small prey, namely hares. It should be noted that cheetahs are very careful about food.

So, for example, they will never eat carrion, and after they eat, but the prey is not eaten, the cheetahs will not eat it again. Typically, a cheetah will hunt new and fresh prey.

Cheetah breeding

When the mating season begins for cheetahs, the males of these animals form small groups of 3-5 individuals, which necessarily include adult individuals from the same litter. All this is necessary in order to protect their territory from males from other groups, which may also contain possible female partners.

The gestation period of a female cheetah can last from 80 to 90 days, while the female is capable of reproducing from two to five kittens at a time.

Little kittens are born blind and defenseless, and only after 9-15 days do the cubs' eyes open.

At birth, small cheetah kittens have long and soft fur, which has a slightly grayish color with a blue tint, and spots on the skin begin to stand out after some time, but the tip of the tail has a dark color, which will simply disappear after 3-5 months.

Almost all cheetah cubs live with their mother until they reach 1-1.5 years of age, after which young and independent cheetahs begin to live independently.