Habitat

The Cheetah ussually lives in large pieces of land where it can find food. In Namibia, it has been found in many habitats. It lives in grassland, mountains, savannahs, and other places. The cheetah has been found mainly in Africa, but other times it has also been seen in India. Cheetas enjoy big spaces and places where it is easy to find food.

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-A Cheetah running to catch its prey inits natural habitat.

Diet

The cheetah tends to prey on small antepoles like Thomson's gazelles but also on little animals such as birds and other small mammals. To catch its prey, the cheetah gets as close as possible. Then just attacks and suffocates the prey with a bite in the neck, once the animal is dead, the cheetah eats rapidly and watching out for lions, hyenas, leoperds and other animals that could steal its food.

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-This Cheetah is carefully getting close to its prey, and getting ready to attack to have the meal of the day.

Behavior

Cheetahs are pretty solitary animals. They are really never acompanied only when a male is acompaning a female right after mating. For a short while, the male will stay with the female but eventually they will separate. Mostly, the female is alone or with her cubs. Cheetah mothers spend a long time teaching their cubs how to hunt. She brings small antepoles to her cubs so they can run and the cubs will chase them.

Cheetahs don't roar like lions. They ussually purr, hiss, whine and growl. Cheetahs have special signals they make by making sounds.

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-A female cheetah taking care of her cubs.

Characteristics

As we all know, the Cheetah is the world's fastest animal. It can sprint over 70 miles per hour! It has long, muscular legs, and a small round head on a long neck. It also has a flexible spine and a deep chest. It has special pads on its feet for traction and a long tail wich works for balance. The cheetah unlike, the other cats cannot retract its claws. That is so it can run better. It also has black tear tracks to see better in the daylight.

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-This is how a cheetah looks in action.

Population

10,000 to 15,000 Cheetahs are left in the world. There are 500 to 600 cheetahs in Africa, and most of them are in protected areas. There are about 200 in Iran. The smallest population is found in Botswana, Kenia and Tanzania. And the biggest population from those is in Namibia.

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