By MSc Gvapo Tripinovic and Adam Tripinovic
Hello, dear readers! Welcome back to our blog ParentingDad.com, where Adam and I share fascinating facts and stories about all kinds of animals.
Today, we have a special treat for you – we will talk about cheetahs, the fastest animal in the world!
They belong to a cat family. An adult cheetah has an average height of 90 centimeters or 37 inches, a length of 140 cm or 55 inches, and an additional 80 cm or 31 inches in tail length.
Their average weight is about 60 kilograms or 132 pounds.
Cheetahs are incredible and can run faster than any other animal on Earth. They can reach speeds of up to 110 kilometers or 70 miles per hour in just 3 seconds!
That’s equal to a Formula 1 car!
Can you imagine how thrilling it must be to chase your prey at such speed?
But cheetahs are not only fast; they are also intelligent and beautiful.
They have a unique pattern of black spots on their fur that helps them camouflage.
No two cheetahs have the same spot patterns, just like with human fingerprints.
Cheetahs’ long tails act like a rudder to help them steer and balance while running at high speeds.
They also have an elongated spine that gives them a long stride of up to 8 meters or 26 feet per step!
Add to that the 110 kilometers or 70 miles per hour speed, and you will see cheetahs as almost flying while chasing prey.
But even with all these fantastic adaptations, cheetahs can run only briefly without getting tired or overheating.
A typical cheetah chase lasts between 200 and 300 meters (656 to 984 feet) and lasts less than a minute. After a chase, cheetahs need half an hour to catch their breath before they can eat or run at high speeds again.
Cheetahs are one of the few cats that can’t roar. Instead, they make other sounds like purrs, hisses, growls, and chirps. If you only listen to their sounds without looking at them, you would probably think some house cat made them!
But don’t be fooled by their cute noises – cheetahs are fierce hunters that use their speed and agility to catch their prey and will not purr if they see you as a potential meal.
Cheetahs have many extraordinary skills besides running fast.
For example, they can jump up to 10 feet or 3 meters, which they use to scan their surroundings for prey or predators.
Cheetahs are not great climbers compared to other members of the cats family, but they like to climb trees, where they rest and protect their food from other animals.
Cheetahs feed solely on meat. They mainly hunt antelopes, gazelles, and hares.
Still, they will not be shy about eating any other small animal they can easily catch.
Cheetahs can eat up to 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of meat in a single meal.
They also have distinctive black stripes on their faces that look like tears running from their eyes to their mouths. Most scientists believe these stripes help them reduce the sun’s glare when they hunt.
Cheetahs live primarily in sub-Saharan Africa, roaming open grasslands and savannas.
Cheetahs need a lot of space to run and hunt. Still, sadly, their habitat is shrinking rapidly due to human farming and infrastructure development.
This also means they are more and more competing with humans for food.
As a result, only about 7000 cheetahs are left in the wild.
Cheetahs are very social animals that live in groups called coalitions, usually of brothers from the same litter. Although sometimes, other males join forces with them to form stronger groups.
These coalitions work together to hunt and defend themselves from other predators, such as lions, hyenas, and leopards, who often steal their kills or attack their cubs.
On the other hand, female cheetahs tend to live solitary.
The exception is when they mate or raise cubs. This usually happens every two years or so, depending on food availability.
Female cheetahs give birth to between two and eight cubs at a time, which stay with her until they are about 16 to 24 months old.
Once cubs reach maturity, they leave their mothers to form coalitions or have their own offsprings.
Cheetah cubs are very vulnerable when young. Mothers hide them in lairs among tall grasses or bushes until they are old enough to follow her and learn.
Mothers teach cubs how to survive by playing, hunting, and showing them how to stalk, chase, and avoid dangers.
Cheetah cubs learn fast, but many don’t pass their first year due to predation, disease, or starvation.
Only about 10% of cubs survive until adulthood.
Due to that, conservation efforts are essential for cheetahs to survive.
Cheetahs are also vulnerable to larger predators, such as lions, hyenas, and leopards. They often lose their kills or their cubs to these animals. Cheetahs hunt primarily during the day to avoid competition with them. They use their speed to catch their prey or escape predators.
Cheetahs have a distinctive “M” shaped mark on their forehead, called a “blaze.” Some people believe that God gave this mark as a sign of respect for the cheetah’s speed. The truth is that many cats have the same mark, but on cheetahs, it looks the coolest 😉
We hope you enjoyed learning about cheetahs today, and we thank you for visiting our website ParentingDad.
While here, please check some of our other Educational, Active Life and healthy Food, or How to be a Better Dad – Q & A articles.
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You can find more great articles and videos about animals here:
Alpacas, Butterflies, Cheetahs, Dolphins, Do Fish Sleep, Dog – Which dog breeds are the smartest, Elephants, Great White Sharks, Sharks in aquariums, Snakes, Hummingbirds, Jellyfish, Lions, Pigeons, Red Pandas, Owls, Seagulls, Snails, Squirrels, and Wolves.
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