WATCH: Cheetahs 101
- Common Name:
- Scientific Name:
- Acinonyx jubatus
- Average Life Span In The Wild:
- Up to 14 years
- Average Life Span In Captivity:
- Up to 20 years
- Body: 3.7 to 4.6 feet; tail: two to 2.7 feet
- 77 to 143 pounds
- IUCN Red List Status:
- Current Population Trend:
What is the cheetah?
The cheetah is the world's fastest land mammal. With acceleration that would leave most automobiles in the dust, a cheetah can go from zero to 60 miles an hour in only three seconds. Wild cheetahs are thought to be able to reach speeds of nearly 70 miles an hour—although they can only sustain that speed for about 30 seconds. These cats are nimble at high speeds, able to make quick and sudden turns in pursuit of prey.
There’s some debate over whether cheetahs are “big cats.” Some scientists argue that the term only refers to cats that are capable of roaring: lions, tigers, jaguars, and leopards. Cheetahs can’t roar, though they can they purr. Still, conservation groups tend to embrace the wider definition of “big cats” that also includes snow leopards and cougars.
Even though their speed makes them fearsome hunters, cheetahs are the most vulnerable of the world’s big cats. The International Union for Conservation of Nature currently lists the cheetah as vulnerable to extinction. However, in recent years, scientists have argued that cheetahs should be considered endangered instead, pointing to sizable losses in cheetah populations. There are fewer than 7,000 adult cheetahs remaining in the wild.
Appearance and habitat
Cheetahs are famous for their tawny coats covered in black spots, each arranged in a unique pattern to help the animals identify one another. Bold black stripes streak like tears from the inner corners of their eyes down to both sides of their mouths, and the ends of their bushy tails are encircled by black rings. As the only big cat with a semi-retractable claw—rather than the fully retractable claws that help lions tear flesh and climb trees—cheetahs are the sole member of the genus Acinonyx.
Cheetahs’ coats can vary depending on their habitat. Although they typically prefer open grasslands, cheetahs live in a range of habitats across eastern and southern Africa. One subspecies, the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah, can only be found in Iran, and only a few hundred are believed to be left.
Cheetahs in desert regions are sometimes smaller with paler coats, while some cheetahs in southern Africa have a genetic mutation that gives them larger spots and even stripes. There have also been rare sightings of spotless cheetahs in Kenya.
Speed and hunting
Cheetahs’ bodies are uniquely adapted to help them reach top speeds, from their long, slender limbs and hard foot pads to the flexible spine that gives them their long stride. The cat’s light tail acts like a rudder, and its semi-retractable claws act like the spikes on a sprinter’s shoe to offer stability during the chase. Cheetahs also have large nasal cavities that help them gulp in oxygen, while the shape of their inner ears allows them to maintain balance and keep their heads still as they run. (Explore the mesmerizing physics of animal locomotion.)
Before unleashing their speed, cheetahs use their exceptionally keen eyesight to scan the grassland for signs of prey—especially antelopes and warthogs, although cheetahs also prey on smaller animals such as hares and birds. The cheetah is a daylight hunter that benefits from stealthy movement and a spotted coat that allows it to blend easily into high, dry grasses.
Cheetahs begin a hunt by stalking their prey. When the moment is right, a cheetah will sprint after its quarry and attempt to knock it down. Such chases cost the hunter a tremendous amount of energy and are usually over in less than a minute. If successful, the cheetah begins eating its kill quickly to prevent opportunistic animals like lions and hyenas from getting in the way. Cheetahs rarely scavenge for food and stay hydrated by drinking the blood or urine of their prey.
Social structure and reproduction
Unlike lions, cheetahs don’t live in groups. Female cheetahs live on their own, each with a large home range. Females in areas such as the Serengeti, where the prey is migratory, typically follow the herds. Meanwhile, males are either solitary or form small coalitions with one or two other males, typically their littermates. Some males establish small territories in areas where they are likely to find mates.
Both male and female cheetahs mate with several partners, and studies show that cubs of the same litter can have different fathers. Female cheetahs typically have a litter of three cubs that live with them for about a year and a half. Young cubs spend that time learning from their mother and practicing hunting techniques with playful games. After leaving their mother, littermates stick together for another six months before the females strike out on their own.
Threats to survival
Cheetah populations are under pressure as the open grasslands they favor are disappearing to human occupation and development. Given their solitary lives and the size of their home ranges, cheetahs need large areas of connected habitat—likely upwards of 3,800 square miles—to find mates and ultimately survive as a species. However, human settlements have fragmented their habitat, and most protected areas are not large enough to sustain cheetah populations.
Conflict with humans, who they’re increasingly sharing space with, is another significant threat. If a cheetah kills a goat or sheep, the livestock owner may kill the cheetah in retaliation.
Cheetahs also face threats from hunting and the illegal wildlife trade, where they’re sold for their skins and as pets. No one knows how many cubs are taken from the wild for the pet trade each year, but some estimates say it may be several hundred.
Cheetahs also face fierce competition for prey, and their cubs are particularly vulnerable to predation from lions.
Compounding all these problems, cheetahs have an extremely low level of genetic variation, which is essential for a species to evolve in the face of environmental changes and disease. This lack of genetic variation is thought to have nearly caused their extinction at the end of the last ice age—and scientists fear it leaves them vulnerable to extinction today.
Cheetah conservation is particularly difficult given their wide geographic range—it requires large-scale, regional collaboration across countries. Hunting cheetahs is illegal in most of the countries where they can be found, as is owning them as pets. They’ve been protected from international commercial trade since 1975, under the Convention on Trade in International Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
In Africa, almost all of the countries in the cat’s range participate in regional conservation efforts that aim to address habitat loss by improving land planning, raising awareness of the need to save cheetahs, and promoting the peaceful coexistence of cheetahs and humans.