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**The Cheetah** Acinonyx Jubatus

The cheetah is a carnivore, its diet mainly consists of staple gazelles, wildebeest calves, impalas, and smaller hoofed animals. Today the cheetah is typically found in eastern and southwestern Africa. Although its rare cheetahs can also be found in Iran. They used to be located throughout Africa, Asia, and from South Africa to India. The cheetah population has greatly declined over the years, they are now considered to be endangered. The few breeds of cheetahs living in Iran are classified as critically endangered. The main reason for the decline of this species is due to the loss of their habitat because of human encroachment. Also the prey the cheetahs hunt are declining so cheetahs cannot survive and die from starvation. In addition to the fall in population, there is a high cub mortality rate due to other arnivores hunting them; such as lions and hyenas.

On June 2nd 1970 cheetahs became endangered, the population continues to decline and now some breeds are critically endangered and there is nothing we can do to reverse it. In attempts to help endangered cheetahs hey are part of the Endangered Species Act, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of the Wild, The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUNC) and they are also on the vulnerable species list. The average build of a cheetah is about 2 1/2 to 3 feet tall at the shoulders, is anywhere from 44 to 53 inches long. The average weight of the cheetah is between 110 pounds and 140 pounds. It has a life span of ten to twelve years. Cheetahs can run at a top speed of 70 mph, and are the fastest land animal in the world. They have long legs built for running, their fur is tan colored with black spots all over their bodies and have stripes that stretch from the corner of their eye to the side of the nose, those strips are called "tear stripes" You can easy spot a cheetah because of its size, it is much smaller than all the others in the cat family.

Today scientists estimate there are around 9,000 to 12,000 cheetahs left in the world and around 200 left living in isolated areas. They use tall grass to help them camouflage when they are hunting, these behaviors are mainly found on the savannah. Cheetahs are more active during the daytime and hunt in the early morning or in the late evening.A cheetah will chase its prey anywhere from 20 seconds up to a minute. Only have of the time their successful. When they kill there prey they will drag it to the ground and bite around its neck to suffocate it. If they do not eat their catch quickly other larger carnivores will eat it. The male cheetah will normally live with its brothers, while the female cheetah will go off on her own to raise her cubs. They can have cubs anytime throughout the year, and can have around two to four cubs at a time. When the cubs are born they have long gray colored fur to help them hide better from and preditors that may want to kill them. The mother will move her cubs every few days to knew hiding places so they remain safe. One the cubs are five weeks old they will start to follow their mother and eat her kill.





