Cheeta

Status: Endangered.

Description: Tawny, coarse coat with round black spots, "tear stripes" from the corner of the eyes down the sides of the nose; slender, long-legged body with blunt, non-retractable claws. Small head, high-set eyes and small ears.

Size: 44-53 inches long with a tail length of 26-33 inches. Weight 86-143 pounds (Males slightly larger that females).

Specializations: The cheetah's flexible spine, oversized liver, enlarged heart, slender muscular body, and claws make it the swiftest hunter in Africa and the fastest animal on land. Can reach speeds of up to 60 miles per hour.

Habitat: Grassy plains, dense bush and mountain train.

Range: Once found throughout Africa and Asia, cheetahs are now only scattered through eastern Africa and through a region of southwestern Africa. Home ranges can cover and area up to 800 square kilometers (310 square miles).

Food Source: Gazelles, wildebeast calves, impala and other hoofed animals weighing up to 88 pounds. Drags prey to hiding place before eating to protect the kill from other carnivores.

Behavior: Females live alone except when raising cubs. Males live alone or with a small group of brothers from the same litter. Cheetahs hunt in late mornings and early evenings. They stalk their prey until within 40-90 feet before chasing. Prey is suffocated by biting underneath the throat. Chases last from 20 seconds to one minute, only half are successful. Cheetahs cannot roar but do make chirruping sounds, hiss and spit when they are threatened or angered, and purr when content.

Reproduction: Sexual maturity is reached about 20-23 months. Mating can occur any time of year. Gestation lasts for 91-95 days. Litter size can be 1-8 cubs, but the average is three. Cubs are smoky grey in color with long wooly hair, called a mantle, running along their backs; this mantle is thought to help camouflage the cub in the grass, concealing it from predators, and to work as a mimicry defense, causing the cub to resemble a honey badger. Mother moves cubs to a new hiding place every few days. Fewer than one-third of the cubs survive to adulthood. At 5-6 weeks cubs follow mother and begin eating from mother's kill. Cubs stay with mother for about one year.

Longevity: Up to 12 years in captivity. No studies of longevity in the wild are available.

Survival Threats: Threatened by increasing loss of habitat, decline in prey, increase in poaching for the fur trade.

Natural History: Cheetahs have been kept in captivity for 5,000 years; however, they breed poorly in captivity, the captive populations have been maintained through collecting wild cheetahs. Cub mortality is high in the wild and in captivity. The many parks and reserves in Africa offer protection for only a small number of cheetahs. In these parks, lion and hyena numbers increase and the cheetahs cannot compete with these large predators which kill their cubs and steal their prey. Evolution has given this species speed over strength.

Legal Protection: CITES, appendix I. Endangered Species Act.

Conservation: To help this sleek hunter of the African wild win its race against extinction, we must help protect its habitat; aid in the conservation of the wild prey base; halt poaching; improve livestock management; and, increase public education and awareness.