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Mammals: Cheetah
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Known as the world's fastest land animal, the cheetah is a highly specialized member of the cat family. In just three strides, the cheetah can go from 0 to 40 miles per hour. In seconds, it can run at its full speed of 70 mph. Its body is built for speed, not fighting, and cheetahs, with their small teeth and weak jaws, can't fight bigger predators to protect their food or cubs. How to tell cheetahs and leopards apart: cheetahs have long, dark teardrop lines running down from the inside corners of their eyes.
Cheetahs once lived in territories from North Africa to India, but now they are only found in Africa, and only in regions south of the Sahara Desert. They prefer sub-desert, and medium-to-long grass plains. Since they're not aggressive, they need the tall grass to hide from predators.
Cheetahs are carnivores and will eat a variety of animals: small antelopes, springbok, duikers, impalas, gazelles, oryx, rabbits, and birds. Most cats are nocturnal, but cheetahs are diurnal and rely on sight to find their prey as they search from high up in trees.
Wild cheetahs can be found in family or male groups. Males are never solitary and brothers will usually form small groups of 2 to 3 individuals. Family groups consist of females with their cubs. Unfortunately, cub mortality is as high as 90 percent as lions and hyenas prey on cubs while their mother is hunting. Cubs who do make it to 5 months are sure to outrun their predators.
Cheetahs are very vocal, and are able to growl, purr, bark, bleat, chirp, and hiss. They can't roar, but their mimicry of birds is thought to attract birds close enough to catch them!
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All cheetahs today are as closely related as identical twins. The growing human population is pushing animals like the cheetah toward extinction. One-tenth of the cheetah population lives in captivity and Namibia has the largest wild population of 2,500 cheetahs. This drastic population reduction means that close relatives were forced to breed and cheetahs became genetically inbred. This also means that one deadly virus could wipe out all of the world's cheetahs since there isn't enough genetic diversity to aid their survival.
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