Cheetah | Description, Speed, Habitat, Diet, Cubs, & Facts

The Cheetah is a large cat and is known to be the fastest of any land animal. It can reach speeds of up to 70 miles per hour. Cheetah can accelerate from 0-60 in about 3 and a half seconds. That’s faster than most sports cars!

Where do Cheetah live?

Cheetahs are mainly found in Africa, but there are small numbers of cheetahs in Iran. Cheetahs are found in a wide variety of habitats and prefer to live in open areas such as grasslands and savannahs of Africa. Female leopards will establish a large home range that may overlap with other female leopards. On the other hand, males will usually establish a much smaller territory.

Do Cheetah live in groups?

Male leopards often group together in groups called alliances. They usually group with brothers, but can also group with an existing group or other males who are the only males in their litter. However, female cheetahs hunt alone except for their cubs.

What do Cheetah look like?

Cheetahs have a short brown coat that has small black spots that help them hide or camouflage. There are no spots on the white belly of the jaguar. Adult cheetahs will weigh between 90 and 140 pounds and be about 4 to 4.5 feet long. They have slender bodies, long legs, deep chests and narrow waists. Female cheetahs are generally smaller than male cheetahs, but there is no major difference in appearance between male and female cheetahs.

Cheetahs are smaller than typical big cats like lions, tigers, leopards, and jaguars. Nor can they roar like all big cats. However, the cheetah is often considered the smallest of the big cats.

What do Cheetahs eat?

Cheetahs mainly feed on small to medium sized mammals such as antelopes, gazelles, guinea pigs and hares. Cheetahs hunt at dusk or dawn. They hunt when seen. Once they detect their prey, they will sneak as close as possible and then use their superior speed to grab the prey. Cheetahs usually eat their meal as quickly as possible before lions or hyenas can snatch it away.

The cubs are called cubs. They are very vulnerable when arising especially from their natural enemies; lions, leopards and hyenas. A typical cheetah will live for 12 years.

Are Cheetahs endangered?

Yes, the leopard is considered an endangered species. It is estimated that there were more than 100,000 cheetahs in 1900, but today there are only about 11,000 left.

Interesting Facts About Cheetahs

Cheetahs use their tails to turn when running at full speed.

Although they cannot growl, they can make a number of other sounds such as growls, meows, howls and growls. They use some of these sounds to communicate with other cheetahs.

The ancient Egyptians kept leopards as pets.

Cheetos’ mascot is Chester Cheetah.