Cheetah Facts

Overview

The cheetah is known throughout the world as the fastest animal on land. The speed is perhaps somewhat exaggerated. My research indicats 64 mph max. The cheetah is inbred. There are other wildcats that are inbred: Siberian tiger to name one. The cheetah has been tamed and has a long history of thousands of years as a “pet”. This must give us an indication as to its character.

The article is over several pages for tech reasons with links to the next page.

Its scientific name is Acinonyx jubatus. The cheetah’s appearance is well known. It is similar in size to the leopard but a little taller and much more slender; a body designed for sprinting. The legs are thin, the body long and deep chested. The cheetah is distributed in a fragmented way throughout large parts of Africa.  The largest population is in Namibia. There may a vestigal population in Iran (2011). Its habitat is being consistently reduced due to mankind’s increased activities.

The cheetah lives in open landscape, grassy plains and open woodlands. This allows it to use its skills in chasing and outpacing prey. The cheetah mainly hunts in the day. Thomson’s gazelle is the main prey. An unsurprising cheetah fact is that it is assessed as vulnerable in respect of its survival in the wild by the IUCN Red List™. The main threat to its survival is habitat loss.

Update: a page on cheetah sounds.

Update Sept 6, 2021: The cheetah’s classification by the IUCN Red List is out of date and endangers the species. The Red List is next to useless. Their latest information is dated 2014! For God’s sake wake up Red List. The cheetah is ENDANGERED NOT vulnerable: The ‘authoritative’ Red List of Threatened Species is flawed and opens the door to trophy hunting

Current Situation – personal overview on the future

These are my thoughts. They are based in a real concern for the general direction in which the world is moving and the impact on wildlife generally by human activity.

In a word, the situation for the cheetah is dire, I believe. When you watch the best wildlife television programs the crisis over the decline in population of the cheetah seems to be circumvented or insufficiently addressed. Behind the beautiful facade of this fantastic cat, an asset to the world, we have the sad reality of its destruction as a consequence of the destruction of the cheetah’s habitat and human activity.

UPDATE DEC 2017: Population decline. Read about it.

The habitat is now so dramatically eroded that this cat, which needs a very large area to roam in, has in Namibia, been forced to share farmland with the farmers. There can be only one outcome from that perilous arrangement, the further slaughter of this treasured wild cat that has no predator, as it runs too fast. It cannot outrun the farmers bullet; neither can it differentiate between the farmer’s cattle and wild animals as prey. See a window on enlightenment: Employing dogs to protect cats.