Cheetah Part II
Sunday, January 27, 2013
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Stick together, team!
(naturescrusaders.wordpress.com)
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Cheetah's are the only large cats that do not roar. However, they are able to purr, which is common when greeting a known individual. An assortment of sounds are used during different situations. They can bark, chirp, and make several distinct noises that resemble that of birds. Similar to most territorial animals, urination is the primary means of marking territory. When showing aggression they will lower their head below shoulder level. When fighting each other, cheetah usually don't use their teeth. If they do bite, they will only bite the legs and never the throat. When greeting familiar cheetahs they will use behaviors that many people observe dogs doing. These include; sniffing, licking, and cheek rubbing. When in distress a cheetah will make a "bleating" sound which is a type of moaning noise.
(bioweb.uwlax.edu)
Family Life
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Beware, kids!
(www.rutherfordschools.org)
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Cheetahs will live solitarily or in small groups. Adult females tend to live alone except when raising cubs. After leaving their den, brothers will stay together in groups of 2 to 4 called coalitions. They will live with each other for the rest of their lives. These groups can even contain unrelated males, but never females. Females establish large territories and defend them against intruding females. Males also establish territories, but they are generally smaller and overlap into the female territories. These territories will change over time, especially during drought, because cheetahs will follow their prey.
(bioweb.uwlax.edu)
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A natural curiosity
(www.rutherfordschools.org)
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The cubs stay in the burrow for 8 weeks. During this time, the mother moves her cubs constantly to avoid detection by predators. Their first teeth come in at 3-6 weeks of age, and are replaced by adult teeth by 8 months old. Until the cubs are 3 months old, they are covered with a long, fuzzy grey coat, which gradually falls out and their sleek, spotted coats fill in. This unusual coloration is thought to be camouflage for the cubs. Cubs are weaned at 4 months old, but continue to stay with their mother until they are about a year and a half old. During this time they are taught how to hunt. Infant mortality rate is 71% before 2 months, and 95% from two months to 1 year old. The high infant mortality rate is due to starvation, disease, and predation by lions, baboons and hyenas. Those that do survive take 1 1/2 years to mature, and in that time they stick with their mother to learn how to hunt. Mothers will not breed until her cubs either all leave her or die. Cheetahs can live for up to 15 years in the wild.
(http://www.lucievandongen.com)
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| Cheetah population (www.newswatch.nationalgeographic.com) |
About 10,000-12,500 cheetahs are estimated to remain in 24 to 26 African countries and less than 100 animals in Iran. Namibia has the world's largest number of free-ranging cheetahs with about 3,000 animals.
(www.cheetah.org)
In Namibia, more than 90 percent of wild cheetahs live on privately owned farmland. In the mid-1950s there were an estimated 40,000 cheetahs in the world. By the mid-1970s, their population had dropped to half due to a spike in agricultural expansion. Farmers killed cheetahs by the thousands as pests or to sell their skins to the fur trade until 1975, when researchers began to realize the cheetah was in danger of becoming extinct. In July of 1975, CITES (the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species) placed the cheetah on Appendix I, making international trade in live cheetah or cheetah products illegal.
Today, the cheetah occupies only 24 percent of its historic range according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. This is particularly concerning to conservationists who view cheetahs as an excellent indicator species due to their vast range. If there are cheetahs, there is a healthy ecosystem.
The IUCN Red List assesses the cheetah as Vulnerable–considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.
(www.newswatch.nationalgeographic.com)
Life Expectancy
Studies have not been conducted in the wild on longevity; 8-12 years is average in captivity. Cub mortality is high for the species in both the wild and captivity. An average 20 percent of all cubs born in captivity die within one month of birth, and in Tanzania's Serengeti National Park, about 90 percent die before reaching the 3 months of age.
(www.cheetah.org)
Source:
http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2007/marek_davi/Behavior%20and%20Feeding.htmhttp://www.cheetah.org/?nd=general_info
http://www.lucievandongen.com/Pages/cheetah_behavior.htm
http://naturescrusaders.wordpress.com/2009/06/19/namibian-cheetahs-thrive-thanks-to-ccf/cheetahcubs17-3cubs_in_forest/
http://www.rutherfordschools.org/rhs/business/current_projects/Projects2010-2011/Cheetas/HOMEPAGE.html
http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2011/03/25/cheetah-ambassador/
*I do not write this, I'm just collecting information from some sources mentioned above*
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