Cheetah

A cheetah's diet primarily consists of gazelle, but they can also prey on other small-to-medium ungulates (animals with hooves), hares, and birds. Unlike many other African predators, cheetahs rarely scavenge for food.

At the Zoo, cheetahs eat a specialized ground carnivore diet, raw chicken, and bones for fasting days and dental health. Fasting days mimic the natural cycle in the wild when a cheetah may not catch food for the day. They also receive rabbits for food-based enrichment.

Historically, the species once inhabited most of Africa and southwestern Asia, from the Arabian Peninsula to central India, and throughout the African continent, excluding tropical forests and the central Saharan desert. Cheetahs are now known to inhabit only 9% of their past range, with the remaining mostly in southern and eastern Africa. There is also a very small population left in Iran.

Cheetahs have been found in various habitats, including grasslands, savannahs, areas with dense vegetation, and mountainous terrain. The species thrives in habitats with vast expanses of open land and an abundance of prey animals.

Cheetah cubs have many predators including lions, leopards, hyenas, painted dogs, and eagles. However, due to their speed, adult cheetahs have few.

Studies of cheetahs have shown that there is very little genetic variation within the species, possibly due to past inbreeding during the species' evolutionary history. It has led to a high infant mortality rate, reproductive abnormalities, and greater susceptibility to disease. This leaves the species less adaptable and more vulnerable to ecological and environmental changes.

The cheetah population in the wild faces a significant challenge due to the growing human population in Africa. This has resulted in a sharp decline in cheetah habitats and prey availability. With diminishing prey, cheetahs raid goat herds out of desperation. Unfortunately, this often leads to farmers shooting cheetahs they come across to protect their goats, even if the cheetah is not close to the herd.

The cheetah has a tan or buff-colored coat with black spots. These spots are camouflage for both hunting and hiding. Its white belly has no spots, and its tail has spots that come together from 4 to 6 dark rings at the end, usually with a bushy white tuft at the tip. Male cheetahs are slightly larger than females and have slightly bigger heads, but it's difficult to tell males and females apart by appearance alone. Long, teardrop-shaped black lines run on each side of the nose from the corner of its eyes to its mouth. These markings help refract the glare of the sun, acting like sunglasses and focusing the cheetah’s vision.

The fur of newborn cubs is dark, and the spots are blended and barely visible. Long, grayish hair, known as a mantle, runs from the head down the length of the back to the base of the tail. The dark fur and mantle help the cub to blend into the shadows and grasslands. Over time, the mantle thins and eventually disappears by the age of two.

As the world’s fastest land animal, cheetahs have a body built for acceleration and speed. With a slender body and small head, its body is aerodynamic, reducing the drag from air as it quickly accelerates. A flexible spine and specialized hip and shoulder joints give a greater reach to the powerful legs with every 20-to-25-foot stride. There are two points during each stride when no feet touch the ground, as they are fully extended and then totally doubled up. Nearing full speed, the cheetah is running at about 3 strides per second!

Cheetahs have short, blunt, semi-retractable claws that help grip the ground like cleats for traction when running. Their paws are less rounded than the other cats and their pads are hard, like tire treads, adding even more grip. The cheetah's long and muscular tail acts as a stabilizer or rudder for balance to counteract its body weight, preventing it from rolling over and spinning out in quick turns during a high-speed chase. Internally, cheetahs have a large heart and lungs to efficiently pump oxygenated blood to their hard-working muscles. Enlarged nostrils allow the cheetah to take in more oxygen during a sprint, when breathing increases from an average of 60 breaths per minute to 150!

Males live alone or in groups made up of brothers from the same litter, called coalitions. Some coalitions fiercely defend territories, which they travel in search of females to mate. Females maintain their own territories and are solitary except when mating or raising cubs.

After around 95 days of pregnancy, a female cheetah can give birth to as many as 8 cubs, with an average litter size of 4 to 5. The cubs are born with closed eyes and are completely dependent on the mother, who raises them alone. Young cheetahs start walking after 12 to 13 days, with their eyes opening a little sooner. Cubs begin eating solid foods as their first set of teeth grow and are weaned off their mother’s milk by 3 to 6 months. The first 18 months of a cub's life are important as they learn to hunt, avoid predators, and survive on their own. After that time, the mother leaves the cubs, who then form a sibling group, that will stay together for another 6 months. At about 2 years, the female siblings leave the group, and the young males can remain together for life.

Cheetahs communicate in several ways, including vocalizations such as purring, bleating, barking, growling, hissing, and high-pitched chirping. They cannot roar. They also communicate through marking their territory by urinating or by cheek and chin rubbing. The saliva they secrete contains chemical information about the animals, similar to their urine. Cheetahs mark their territory so they can better avoid each other.

Unlike most cats, cheetahs are most active during the day, preferring to hunt in the early morning and late afternoon. They rely heavily on their keen sight rather than smell, and often survey the landscape from the top of a termite mound.