Cheetah
Acinonyx jubatus
About
Cheetahs are known for their speed, reaching 60mph in just 3 seconds!
Cheetahs have lean muscles, slender legs, and a flexible spine, all ideal for their high-speed chases. Wide nostrils help them take in large amounts of oxygen during a sprint, and their lungs and heart are adapted to handle the high oxygen demands of running.
Cheetahs only sprint at top speed briefly to catch prey; after a chase, it can take them up to 20 minutes to recover.
Cheetahs breed year-round, and after a three-month pregnancy, females give birth to litters of 2 to 4 cubs. Every few days, a mother will move her babies to a new hiding place to protect them from hungry predators. At about 6 weeks, cubs will start to follow their mother and eat from her kills.
Cheetah facts
Threats
Human intervention
Hunting or collection
Climate change & severe weather
Energy production and mining
How we’re working to save cheetahs
Human-wildlife conflict is a big problem for cheetahs. They have less land to roam and prey to eat because of the human population expanding and changing land for agriculture. This fragments and destroys cheetah habitat.
Farmers often blame cheetahs for livestock losses and may resort to hunting, trapping, or shooting to protect their animals.
We donated GPS collars to the N/a’an ku sê Foundation in Namibia. The collars track the movement and behaviour of Southern cheetahs. They found that cheetahs actually hardly ever kill livestock.
Farmers now receive regular updates from the GPS collars on cheetah locations, allowing them to protect their livestock without harming cheetahs.
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