The cheetah is a big cat.
Some other big cats are - the lion, the tiger, the leopard, the cougar, the jaguar.
The cheetah lives in Central and Eastern Africa and in parts of Asia.
The cheetah lives on a savannah.
A savannah is an open plain or grassland with some trees on it.
Savannahs lie between a desert and a rainforest.
The cheetah runs faster than all other land animals.
A cheetah can run as fast as 70 miles per hour (that's as fast as a car).
It has golden eyes.
The cheetah has 2 stripes on its face - one stripe running from the corner of each eye down its cheek to its mouth.
The cheetah can't pull in its claws.
The cheetah's claws help it to grip the ground and run very fast.
They have long legs.
Cheetahs don't roar.
Cheetahs make a chirping noise like a bird.
Cheetahs can growl, hiss and purr.
Cheetahs can see, smell and hear very well.
Cheetahs like to hunt in the early morning (dawn) and as the sun goes down at the end of the day (dusk).
It is cooler at dawn and dusk.
Cheetahs don't hunt at night-time.
The cheetah is covered with spots.
The cheetah's spots help it to hide in the long grass where it hunts.
The cheetah can sneak up to an animal and get very close to it.
Cheetahs hunt Thomson's gazelles, impalas, antelope, young warthogs and wildebeests.
When the cheetah is very close to the animal it runs toward it very fast.
The cheetah trips up the animal so that it falls down.
Hyenas and lions often steal the cheetah's food.
Cheetahs have 2 to 6 cubs in a litter.
Cheetah cubs are born with their eyes shut.
It takes 3 months for a cheetah baby to grow inside its mother before it is born.
When cheetah cubs are about 9 days old, they can stand up.
When they are 4 weeks old, they can walk.
Cheetah cubs chirp like birds.
Cheetah cubs drink their mother's milk until they are 6 weeks old.
The cheetah mother must hunt every day while nursing her cubs.
When young cheetahs have learned to hunt by themselves, they leave their mother.
This happens when they are over one year old.
Female cheetahs live by themselves until they have cubs.
Male cheetahs from the same litter live together for life.
These brothers hunt together, live in the same territory and find mates together.
The cheetah has been kept as a pet. It is easy to tame as it is so gentle.
In the wild, a cheetah lives for 7 years.
In zoos, cheetahs can live to be 15 years old.
The cheetah has a large heart, large lungs and vascular system for its size.
The heart beats and pumps blood around the body.
The lungs fill with air and that is how the cheetah breathes.
There are not many cheetahs left alive today. There are a few reasons for this.
Lions often kill cheetah cubs.
The cheetah's hunting grounds are getting smaller.
Cheetahs are almost all genetically identical. This means that they are all like identical twins to one another.
Being very similar to each other is very dangerous. Differences in other animal species help them to survive.
If a disease started to make cheetahs sick, then they could all get sick and die out.
Variation helps animals to survive.
Cheetah Links
Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus
Cheetah Card at the Henson Robinson Zoo site
Cheetah Conservation Fund
Cheetah Info at the Birmingham Zoo site
Jungle Eyes - The Cheetah
The Cheetah Spot
The Cheetah Survival Home Page
The Sweet Place - lots of info about cheetahs
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