The Cheetah

The name cheetah is a Hindu word meaning, “spotted one.” An adult cheetah’s fur is usually a tan color but it can also be a golden yellow color, too. Cheetahs, of all ages, have hundreds of 1.5 inch, in diameter, oval or circle spots on their coats. The cheetahs’ stomach and throat area is left unmarked with spots; it’s either a cream or a whitish color. On the end of a cheetahs tail you can count about 4 or 6 black rings, these rings begin right before the tail ends. The cheetah has a small rounded head, with small rounded ears, and eyes that rise high on the face. If you look at a cheetah’s face you’ll see a black tear-like mark running from the corner of each eye down to the corners of its mouth, this is called the “tear mark.” Cheetah’s teeth are small K9 like teeth which help the cheetah remove the meat from its prey bones. Adult cheetahs are about 32 inches from the bottom of their foot to their shoulder blade, and about 32 inches in length. Male cheetahs are usually a little larger then the females. An adult cheetah can weigh up to 140, this also includes the females, but females average about 90-95 pounds. People make mistakes and think cheetahs are leopards. A leopard weighs a lot more then the cheetah, they have rosette like spots, and they have no tear marks on their faces.

A king cheetah is not a separate-specie of cheetah, like once thought of. A king cheetah is the same as a cheetah, but a rare mutation happens to its fur. In order to get these blotchy patterns to appear and form this king cheetah, a gene would have to be inherited from both parents. So a king cheetah has black blotches and a cheetah has black spots, but they’re both the same type of cheetah.

The cheetah is a cat of speed, and everything that was designed on the cheetah makes it for speed. A cheetah has smaller teeth then other large cats, but this is another design feature making it faster. When you run you consume a lot of oxygen, and the same happens with a cheetah. The cheetah’s teeth are small because it needs more space for nasal passages. The cheetahs’ teeth are small so they have small roots and there’s more space for the nasal passages. Since the cheetah has teeth smaller then other big cats, they are more liable to become injured by a lion or something of a lions build. Cheetahs have to suffocate their prey because if not their teeth are too small to kill the prey. A cheetahs jaw structure is made to suffocate its prey with a vise-like grip.

Cheetahs are carnivores, so they eat a variety of small animals. Unlike other large cats, the cheetah hunts in the early morning and late afternoon while other cats hunt during the night. The cheetah depends on sight more then it does smell, so a cheetah will scan the land while laying high up in the trees on a branch. Cheetahs also plan their attack strategies on their prey while they lay and watch from a far. The cheetah sneaks about 50 yards away from its prey before it pounces, and even when it does pounce it sprints while chasing its prey 3.4 miles going the average speed of 45 mph. A mother trains her cubs how to hunt and kill by capturing live prey and allowing them to kill it, and they start their training 6 months of age.

The cheetah lets out high-pitched squeaks for its call. It sounds like a little puppy barking. Even though it’s not a roar, the cheetahs call can be heard from miles away.
Cheetahs use their call when they need back-up for killing a prey, when they’re in danger and need help, and when their calling they’re young.

Sadly, the cheetahs’ life must come to an end some time. The cheetah usually dies of old age about 25 years of age. Cheetahs appoint kings (the leader of the pack), and after that leader dies that choose a cub to become their new leader.