I picked the cheetah to report on because he just came to my mind when my teacher, Mrs. Smith, said we were going to do a wep page on animals. Cheetahs are pretty and they have spots that make them look cute. They look like they would be soft to pet, but I wouldn't try it because they might bite my hand! They are not tame animals.

Here are the facts:

Name: Acinonyx Jubatus, commonly known as the Cheetah

Classification: Mammal

Size: 60 inches long plus a 24-inch tail; 24 inches shoulder height; 120 pounds weight

Description: Member of the large cat family, classified as a leopard and known as the hunting leopard. It moves gracefully and has a small, round head and a light yellow coat with black spots. It has long legs with claws that could kill you becuse they are so sharp. The claws cannot be drawn in. It is the fastest land animal over short distances--it can go 70 miles an hour! But not for very long. A good, strong horse can beat it in a race thatís more than a mile.

Habitat: They live in the plains (grasslands)

Range: Eastern Africa and southern India.

Diet: The cheetah hunts for its food by walking slowly in the grass andsneaking up on antelopes, gazelles, zebras, ostriches, gnus, and smaller animals. It is usually by itself but sometimes teams up with jackals to hunt. One thing, though, a cheetah cannot protect its kill from lions or hyenas. A cheetah can go for days between one meal and the next. Its stomach is very strong.

Habits: Cheetahs are usually quiet. They don't roar or growl. They only purr or make a kind of a chirping, barking noise when theyíre upset. And when theyíre separated from their family they make a kind of whistling sound. They are close to their mothers and stay with them for two years. The mother leaves her cubs hidden while she goes out to hunt.

Physical Adaptations: The cheetah's spots make it camoflauged so it can sneak up on its prey. That way, it won't have to chase it very long. It is fast, remember, but canít go for very long. If it weren't for the spots, it might not get anything to eat because lots of animals could out-run it.

Training: Cheetahs used to be trained by sultans (like kings) of India. They are easy to train and were used like hunting dogs. I saw a Disney movie where they turned a baby cheetah into a house pet and it was very tame. But when they tried to train it to hunt, it was just too nice. In the movie, the cheetah raced some real fast greyhounds but guess what? The cheetah still won.

Endangered: Cheetahs are considered an endangered species. They have been hunted too much for their furs plus their habitat is being destroyed.

Only a few thousand cheetahs are left, mostly in Africa. Just a scattered few are left in India. I sent an e-mail message to President Clinton asking him to help save the cheetahs by putting more money in environment programs that work on this.

Conclusion

Writing this report, was fun. And if I ever went to Africa and met a real cheetah, I would probably get eaten because he could run faster than I could. My adaptation would be to drive there so I could jump in my jeep and get away.

Sources of Information:

"Beasts of the Open Country." Disney's Wonderful World of Knowledge.

Danbury, CT: Groiler Enterprises, Inc., 1982.

Chadwick, Douglas. "A Place for Parks in the New South Africa." National Geographic Magazine. July, 1996.

"Cheetah...Like a streak of lightning..." Animal Cards. Leisure Books Ltd. 1975.

"Leopard" Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia, 1994.

"Meet the Cheetah" Environmental Defense Fund, 1995. Accessed on line