I have focused on speed and been selective in presenting these cheetah facts. There are many pages about the cheetah on this site. Please use the custom search tool. Name The cheetah derives its name from the Hindu word chita … Continue reading →
Of course cheetahs can swim. All cats, domestic, feral and wild can swim well. As is the case for all cats, it is as if cheetahs are born with firmware in their brains, to use the language of technology, which … Continue reading →
Are cheetahs nocturnal? There isn’t a black-and-white answer to this question. It depends on where the cheetahs are. Although cheetahs mainly hunt by day, their hours vary slightly from place to place. For example, in the Sahara, where understandably it … Continue reading →
Are cheetahs faster than cars? The answer is Yes and No.
Continue reading →Cheetahs do not live in the rainforest. The map below shows you where the cheetah lives on the African continent and in Iran and Azerbaijan. I made it from IUCN Red List information. The distribution is incredibly fragmented due to … Continue reading →
Cheetahs can’t mate with leopards because leopards attack and kill cheetahs in the wild and in captivity there have been no matings.
Continue reading →The social organisation of cheetahs is unique among the wild cat species. Females are solitary unless they are looking after their cubs, while males are either solitary or they live in coalitions (functioning groups) of brothers or unrelated males. This … Continue reading →
Are cheetahs good hunters? Although cheetahs are generally more successful in hunting than other large wild cats, their success rate depends on their age, sex and the type of prey hunted. In The Serengeti Lion (1972), G.B. Schaller reports that … Continue reading →
Do cheetahs’ claws retract? The answer is YES, the cheetah has retractile claws but (a) the cheetah has no claw sheath and the claws protrude beyond the fur and (b) it is incorrect to describe feline claws are ‘retractile’ as they are ‘protractile’.
Continue reading →The cheetah is alone in the genus Acinonyx. A ‘genus’ is a rank in the classification of the species (taxonomy). It is a sort of group of cats with the same fundamental features and in this case it is a … Continue reading →
