Cheetah
| Common name | Scientific name | Average weight of adult male | Average length or shoulder height | Diet | How do they live | Feeding time | Gestation period | Number of young at birth |
| Cheetah | Acinonyx jubatus | 54 kg | 80 cm | carnivorous | solitary/pairs | day | 3 months | 1-5 cubs |
Is the fastest mammal on earth and can reach speeds of up to 95 km/h over a short distance of about a hundred to two hundred meters, but is yet again an endangered species. They have been bred successfully in captivity at the "De Wildt Cheetah Breeding Station of the National Zoological Gardens" at Pretoria.
Unlike other cats, the cheetah do not have retractable claws but have paws more like that of a dog. They are built for speed with their small heads, deep chest, long legs and their long tails that they use for balance during a chase. When they catch their prey they quickly choke it to death by grabbing it's throat. They catch medium to small sized antelopes like the impala.
The cubs are born helpless and blind and their mother hides them away in tall grass and relocates them often in fear of predators. Lions and leopards would kill the cubs whenever the opportunity arises. The mortality rate of cubs are very high and only a few ever reach adulthood.
They can be tamed and was used by early civilizations to hunt.
