Cheetah Information

South African Cheetah

The cheetah /ˈtʃiːtə/ (Acinonyx jubatus) is a large felid of the subfamily Felinae that occurs mainly in eastern and southern Africa and a few parts of Iran. The only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, the cheetah was first described by Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber in 1775. The cheetah is characterized by a slender body, deep chest, spotted coat, a small rounded head, black tear-like streaks on the face, long thin legs and a long spotted tail. Its lightly built, slender form is in sharp contrast with the robust build of the big cats, making it more similar to the cougar. The cheetah reaches nearly 70 to 90 cm (28 to 35 in) at the shoulder, and weighs 21–72 kg (46–159 lb.). Though taller than the leopard, it is notably smaller than the lion. Basically yellowish tan or rufous to greyish white, the coat is uniformly covered with nearly 2,000 solid black spots.

Annie on left, Robin on right

Cheetahs are active mainly during the day, with hunting their major activity. Adult males are sociable despite their territoriality, forming groups called “coalitions”. Females are not territorial; they may be solitary or live with their offspring in home ranges. Carnivores, cheetah mainly preys upon antelopes and gazelles. They will stalk their prey to within 100–300 meters (330–980 ft.), charge towards it and kill it by tripping it during the chase and biting its throat to suffocate it to death. The cheetah’s body is specialized for speed; it is the fastest land animal. The speed of a hunting cheetah averages 64 km/h (40 mph) during a sprint; the chase is interspersed with a few short bursts of speed, when the animal can attain 112 km/h (70 mph), although this is disputed by more recent measurements. Cheetahs are induced ovulators, breeding throughout the year. Gestation is nearly three months long, resulting in a litter of typically three to five cubs (the number can vary from one to eight). Weaning occurs at six months; siblings tend to stay together for some time. Cheetah cubs face higher mortality than most other mammals, especially in the Serengeti region. Cheetahs inhabit a variety of habitats – dry forests, scrub forests and savannahs.

Thanks to its prowess at hunting, the cheetah was tamed and used to kill game at hunts in the past. The animal has been widely depicted in art, literature, advertising and animation. Classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the cheetah has suffered a substantial decline in its historic range due to rampant hunting in the 20th century. Several African countries have taken steps to improve the standards of cheetah conservation. By late 2016 – early 2017, the cheetah’s global population had fallen to approximately 7,100 individuals in the wild due to habitat loss, poaching, the illegal pet trade, and conflict with humans, with researchers suggesting that the animal be immediately reclassified as “Endangered” on the IUCN Red List.

Etymology

The vernacular name “cheetah” is derived from the Hindi word चीता (cītā), which in turn comes from the Sanskrit word चित्रकायः (citrakāyaḥ) meaning “bright” or “variegated“. The first recorded use of this word has been dated back to 1610. An alternative name for the cheetah is “hunting leopard”. The scientific name of the cheetah is Acinonyx jubatus. The generic name Acinonyx could have originated from the combination of two Greek words: akinetos means motionless, and onyx means claw. A rough translation of the word would be “non-moving claws”, a reference to the limited retractability (capability of being drawn inside the paw) of the claws of the cheetah relative to other cats’. The specific name jubatus means “maned” in Latin, referring to the dorsal crest of this animal.

The cheetah is the only extant species of the genus Acinonyx. It belongs to Felinae, the subfamily of Felidae that also includes lynxes, wildcats, and the puma. The species was first described by German naturalist Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber in his 1775 publication Die Säugethiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen.

The cheetah’s closest relatives are the cougar (Puma concolor) and the Jaguarundi (P. yagouaroundi). These three species together form the Puma lineage, one of the eight lineages of Felidae. The sister group of the Puma lineage is a clade of smaller Old World cats that includes the genera Felis, Otocolobus and Prionailurus. Although the cheetah is an African cat, molecular evidence indicates that the three species of the Puma lineage evolved in North America two to three million years ago, where they possibly had a common ancestor during the Miocene. They possibly diverged from this ancestor 8.25 million years ago. The cheetah diverged from the puma and the Jaguarundi around 6.7 million years ago. A genome study concluded that cheetahs experienced two genetic bottlenecks in their history, the first about 100,000 years ago and the second about 12,000 years ago, greatly lowering their genetic variability. These bottlenecks may have been associated with migrations across Asia and into Africa (with the current African population founded about 12,000 years ago), and/or with a depletion of prey species at the end of the Pleistocene.