Incredibly interesting and graceful animals, cheetahs are the fastest land creatures on Earth. These cunning and agile predators are not too strong, at least compared to other cats, but they are able to catch up with absolutely anyone, and it doesn’t matter if he runs on legs or four legs. It was these abilities that at one time attracted such close attention of scientists to cheetahs, who for a long time could not figure out how these animals manage to run so fast.
Interesting facts about cheetahs
- Contrary to popular belief, they live not only in Africa, but also in the Middle East, as well as in southern Asia.
- The cheetah is able to develop extreme for him, a speed of 110 km/h in just 3 seconds. This is an absolute record among all land animals.
- In percentage terms, the lungs of cheetahs are larger than those of any other members of the cat family.
- Unlike most other big cats, cheetahs can partially retract their claws.
- Cheetahs are mentioned in the ancient chronicle «The Tale of Igor».
- More than half of cheetah kittens are not live up to one year of age. This is due to their genetic degeneration, since during the last ice age there were too few of them left, and they resorted to inbreeding.
- All cheetahs are spotted like leopards. But sometimes mutant cheetahs come across with stripes on the skin, along the spine. They are called «royal cheetahs» (See interesting facts about leopards).
- In the 10-12 centuries, eastern rulers used cheetahs as hunting animals.
- In captivity, these animals almost never breed.
- In 2012, a cheetah named Sarah set a world record by running 100 meters in 5.95 seconds.
- At the court of the Indian ruler Akbar, who ruled in the 16th century, about 1000 trained cheetahs constantly lived, because the ruler loved antelope hunting with these animals.
- Cheetahs do not hunt like tigers or lions, from an ambush – they quickly attack prey without hiding. Their strength is their speed (interesting facts about tigers).
- In Iran, the cheetah is considered a national animal.
- At maximum speed, it can run no longer than 30-35 seconds, because it is furious the work of the muscles generates a huge amount of heat, and if not stopped, the cheetah can pass out from overheating, suffering from heat stroke.
- During this time, the cheetah usually covers a distance of 350-400 meters. Usually this is enough to quickly catch up with prey, but it can also dodge.
- Despite such an active lifestyle, these animals rarely drink water, once a day or two.
- At night they usually sleep, and hunt during the day, in open spaces.
- After a jerk, the cheetah needs 20-30 minutes to rest. Other predators sometimes take advantage of this, taking away legitimate prey from him, knowing that he is too tired to resist.
- Lions usually kill cheetahs when they meet. The latter can only escape by flight, because they cannot fight on equal terms with the king of beasts (interesting facts about lions).
- The ancient Egyptians used trained cheetahs as hunting animals.
- Among all large African predators, they are the weakest. But the fastest.
- Cheetahs eat only fresh meat. They will not eat up the remains of someone else’s prey.
- During their rapid run, they hold their heads so as not to lose prey from sight. One mistake – and the predator can miss, and each such jerk takes a lot of strength.
- Without food, cheetahs can do up to 5-6 days, however, they begin to weaken in 2-3 days without food.
- Despite their flexibility, they hardly know how to climb trees.
- Once upon a time, cheetahs were also found in Central Asia, in particular, in Kazakhstan.
- These graceful big cats are some of the most efficient hunters in the world. Approximately 50% of their attacks are successful.
- When resting, cheetahs breathe calmly, but while running, they take an average of 5 breaths every two seconds. Their mighty lungs at this moment work like bellows.
- Sometimes other predators, such as crocodiles, prey on cheetahs.
- While running at breakneck speed, cheetahs do not seem to run, but fly over the ground. In fact, they make long jumps, 6-8 meters long, so it seems that they are flying.