Get ready to meet one seriously fierce, fast and fur-ocious feline with these fascinating cheetah facts!

1) Nearly all wild cheetahs can be found in sub-Saharan Africa, where they roam open, grassy savannah plains and open forests. A small population lives in northeastern Iran, although only a few dozen remain here.

2) These big cats’ bodies grow to between 1.1m and 1.4m metres long, plus a tail measuring 65cm to 80cm. Their weight ranges from 34kg to 54kg, males being slightly heavier.


 
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3) Cheetahs have a pale yellow coat with black dots on the upper parts, and are white on the underbelly. Their faces are distinguished by prominent, black lines that curve from the inner corner of each eye to the outer corners of the mouth.

4) The fastest land animal in the world, a cheetah can reach 112km/h in just three seconds – that’s faster than a sports car accelerates! Its body has evolved for speed, with long legs, an elongated spine, adapted claws to grip the ground and a long tail for balance.

cheetah facts

5) Cheetahs are carnivores and live off other animals they find on Africa’s plains, including rabbits, warthogs, springboks, gazelles and birds.

6) These fierce felines hunt during the day to avoid competition from other powerful predators such as lions, hyenas and leopards. And boy, can they hunt! First, they use their exceptional eyesight to scan their surroundings before quietly stalking their chosen prey. Then, when the time is right, they sprint from cover, knock down their victim and kill it with a bite to the throat.

cheetah facts

7) As sprinting at such mega speeds uses a lot of energy, a cheetah chase is usually limited to 200-300m, and lasts less than a minute.

8) Social animals, cheetahs are usually found in groups, consisting of either a mother and her young, siblings (who stay together for around six months after leaving the mother) or a coalition of males who live and hunt together. Adult females, however, tend to be solitary and only meet with males to mate.

cheetah facts

9) Females usually give birth to between two to eight cubs at a time. She nurses her youngsters in a lair hidden by tall vegetation, until they are 16 to 24 months old and able look after themselves.

10) Sadly, this beautiful animal is threatened by loss of habitat and prey, as well as conflict with humans. As a result, the cheetah is classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red list, and, today, an estimated 9,000-12,000 remain in Africa.

 

Picture credits
Cheetah family in grass: Chris Johns. Cheetah chasing prey: Stu Porter, Dreamstime. Cheetah watching: Heinrich Van Den Berg, Dreamstime.

What did you make of our cheetah facts? Leave a comment below and let us know!

 

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COMMENTS

  • Jferretti

    Amazing!

  • Shark

  • micc

    cool

  • Liam

  • Cheetah

    Cool facts

  • adrian

    coooooooooooooooooool!

  • John

    Am sad how the number of cheetah has decreased my favourite animal is the cheetah I love to watch it running

  • Its my favourite animal! So fast

  • 1234567890

    cheetahs are the best.

  • luxzurie

    Thanks for the information about cheetahs!

  • cheetahs cool

  • jsajeztxgf

    awsome stuff I love cheetahs

  • cheetahs are the best. I love cheetahs because they are cute.

  • Willow

    Cheetahs are cute

  • 22553

  • chase duke

  • Prompt

  • Prompt superpo

  • Prompt superpo

  • sa

  • Manil

  • Hosie

    I really enjoy this app. It is amazing it is really cool.

  • Savannah

    Cheetahs are my FAVOURITE animal, I had done a magazine about cheetahs to show people how vulnerable they are and how many are left in the wild right now! It's very sad how rapidly there population is decreasing:( I really hope that the cheetahs get a big boost sometime in their population; they are incredible animals! One day I hope I hope I recarnate back as cheetah♡

  • COOL

  • shaurya

    thank you very much

  • Jiahao

    I wish cheetahs weren't endangered

  • Harry

    that ar good

  • krystal

    amazing

  • RDevil

    hi

  • Leo D.

    I love cheetahs because they are so fast. I am sad that they aren't many left in the wild.

  • Please please please save Cheetah because they are my favourite animals in the whole world

  • Jasmine

    Best info yet

  • SAVE CHEETAHS

  • jennifercute

    i love love love love cheetahs

  • Glod

    Cool!,!!!!!!

  • anonymous child

    i didnt know all that thats cool

  • mary

    I love Cheetahs. There are so cool. I think there the best animal in the world.

  • Dumalisile Mlambo

    A cheetah us my favorite animal, love it.

  • emma

    love it

  • Sirkka

    wow

  • Dhruv

    SUPER COOL

  • Turtle

    Cool

  • ottis

    cheetah

  • ottis

    king

  • kira

    It's good information.

  • Chelsea

    this information is really amazing and helpful

  • this website is good

  • Tom 2

    Best facts you can find

  • tom

    nice dude

  • Sophia

    This is some awsome facts i,v learnt so much. i love cheetahs and i hope they are safe.

  • Daisy

    Yay I can’t wait iam sooo excited about the surprise yay hehe Lol!

  • Meatball

    These facts are very educational, thankyou so much for sharing this knowledge. I hope the cheetah species will some day thrive in the prosperity they deserve.

  • cool

  • nici1807

    LETS TAKE ACTION

  • Michael

    Wow

  • blair

    cool

  • Liam

    Cheetah's are very cool

  • Mason.c

    What do cheetah's eat

  • Abbie Smale 2019

    I did not now that baboons eat Cheatas. I fort that it was the uther way.

  • cgyh GLDdozgs vldrzserysuigzfuizts7rtvzi.t

    happy

  • Tim

    so sad that there only 1200 left in africa.

  • jeff

    this site is bad

  • Maria

    Woah

  • Jack

    COOL

  • anonames

    great helped a lot on a project

  • MITIO110

    I love Aimals!!!!

  • Charlotte

    Yea!So cool!

  • UHHH WHY NOT ME?

    Hello Everyone! your great P.S Why it not work -_- From: UHHH WHY NOT ME?

  • YAY

    AWSOME TIME!

  • joe

    facts helped me with my project!

  • Emily

    It was really good thanks for the cool info.

  • Cooper

    Amazing

  • isi3234

    good info

  • dolphin

    awsome

  • samyog

    nice

  • bob

    still coool

  • bob

    cool

  • BunnyGirl

    this helped me on my project

  • Hi

  • miya

    lol

  • MAX!!!

    LOL !!!

  • Vtsai0

    Cool

  • zingo

    my favourite animal is rhino make a rhino fact page please

  • Solange

    The cheetah cubs are really cute !

  • Penny

    This was very interesting! I really hope that I can get more information! The cheetah is my favourite land animal! I really hope people stop endangering them!

  • hannah

    great facts,I learned a lot. thanks!!!

  • Dexter

    I Learned lots of things about cheetahs.

  • Rafeef

    Why do cheetahs win everything? Because they cheat on everything! Ha!

  • erin

    i love cheetahs :]

  • drtrayblox

    cool cheetah facts

  • JKa72

    You really know your stuff about a cheetah

  • charleslabajos

    COOL

  • myriam

    love cheetahs

  • DB

    Cheetahs are the worlds fastest animals!

  • Hh

    I can't believe that cheetahs can run up to 112km/!

  • Seb16

    sick cheetahs r so cool ;]

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