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– Game Ranging / Field Guiding Course Module # 7 – Component # 12 Cheetah Classification Cheetah are classified in the following manner: Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species - Animalia Chordata Mammalia Carnivora Felidae Acinonyx jubatus Common names: English German French Afrikaans Shona Mammals - Cheetah Gepard Guepard Jagluiperd Xikankank © Copyright This course material is the copyrighted intellectual property of WildlifeCampus. It may not be copied, distributed or reproduced in any format whatsoever without the express written permission of WildlifeCampus 1 – Game Ranging / Field Guiding Course 2 Myth & Legend The origin of the following myth is unknown. " In ancient times, all the animals were endowed with the ability to converse with one another. Once a year all the animals would gather to discuss where all would be able to live in the coming year. These indabas were convened at the site of an ancient magical Baobab Tree who both called and presided over the meeting, and representatives from each of the animals were present. However, at this latest gathering, the cheetah was absent. The meeting lasted one full moon, during which many arguments were raised and compromises made. In the end, all the animals were satisfied as to where they would be living during the coming year, with the exception of the cheetah who was not present and therefore not considered. Just as the meeting was being concluded, the cheetah arrived. He gave neither an apology nor an excuse for his tardiness, but rudely demanded that the proceedings begin again to include him. The Baobab became highly angered by the cheetah’s display and lack of respect. The mighty tree then ruled that because of his absence no land could or would be allocated to him now and forever more, and thus there would be nowhere where the cheetah could call home. The cheetah then lamented that without a home, he would be chased from place to place, never being able to rest. The Baobab considered this, but refused to allocate the cheetah a home. Instead the magical tree endowed the cheetah with remarkable speed, so as to lessen the time taken in moving from place to place, and ensure that he would never again be late for a gathering. " There is no real evidence to attest to the fact that this is the origin of the idiom: " Cheaters never prosper ". Mammals © Copyright This course material is the copyrighted intellectual property of WildlifeCampus. It may not be copied, distributed or reproduced in any format whatsoever without the express written permission of WildlifeCampus 3 – Game Ranging / Field Guiding Course Vital Statistics Shoulder Height Total length Weight Tail length Gestation period Hunting success Maximum speed Killing technique Social grouping Longevity Record Auction Price Males 88cm (35in.) Females 85 cm (34in.) 1.9m (6.3ft) 43Kg (95lbs.) 68cm (27in.) 2.0m (6.6ft) 54kg (120lbs.) 72cm (29in.) 3 months 40% 112k.p.h. (70 m.p.h.) Strangulation Complex - explained further on 16 years R 75, 000.00 Cheetah - Acinonyx jubatus (Schreber 1775) Mammals © Copyright This course material is the copyrighted intellectual property of WildlifeCampus. It may not be copied, distributed or reproduced in any format whatsoever without the express written permission of WildlifeCampus 4 – Game Ranging / Field Guiding Course Introduction The name cheetah is derived from the Indian word C-H-I-T-A, meaning spotted. Its Latin name Acinonyx roughly translates to claws that do not move, referring to its non-retractable claws. This highly specialised cat is lithely built, with long thin legs ending in small feet and with unsheathed non - retractable claws. A further diagnostic feature of these cats are the two black tear lines running from the corner of their eyes to the corners of their mouths. One theory as to their purpose is that kittens use these lines as a guide by watching their mother, and learning where to bite an antelope when hunting. Cheetah are said to be both diurnal and crepuscular. This means that they are generally active during daylight hours (diurnal), but show a marked increase in activity at dawn and dusk (crepuscular). Cheetah are an unusual mammal in that they display two very different forms of coat colouration. The vast majority of individuals exhibit the normal spotted coat pattern, but 55 individuals world-wide show a different coat pattern. Instead of spots, these cheetahs display elongated patches of dark hair. This is very distinctive and greatly reduces their camouflage under natural conditions. At one time, it was thought that these individuals were a separate species and were given the name Acinonyx rex, or King cheetah. However modern genetic tests have revealed that these animals are the same species as ‘normal’ cheetah and carry a highly recessive gene for coat colouration. There is a breeding programme that has run for many years to produce these variants of the species. However, since these animals could never be released back into the wild, the reason for continuing to rear these animals remains highly controversial. Mammals © Copyright This course material is the copyrighted intellectual property of WildlifeCampus. It may not be copied, distributed or reproduced in any format whatsoever without the express written permission of WildlifeCampus – Game Ranging / Field Guiding Course 5 Cheetahs have been described as the feline version of the greyhound, and the analogy is not far off the mark. The cheetah is the holder of the record as the fastest land animal capable of accelerating to 112 kilometres an hour or 70 miles per hour. This means he could complete 100 metres in 3.2 seconds, taking 6.38 seconds off Usain Bolt's August 2010 World Record of 9.58 seconds, over the same distance. The animal has some remarkable physical adaptations for achieving these high speeds. These include: a spine that is so flexible that during a high-speed sprint, its hind legs are brought far forward of the body and are placed on either side of the forelegs with each stride. the pads on their forepaws are also grooved like tyre tread to prevent skidding. Finally, their non-retractable claws provide excellent traction in the same manner as a runners’ spiked shoes. Mammals © Copyright This course material is the copyrighted intellectual property of WildlifeCampus. It may not be copied, distributed or reproduced in any format whatsoever without the express written permission of WildlifeCampus – Game Ranging / Field Guiding Course 6 Hunting The cheetah’s specialised speed makes it quite a formidable predator. However, this comes with a trade-off of diminished strength and power. Thus, its prey base is not as wide as that of the leopard. Prey items they take include hares, guinea fowl, ground birds, young warthog and small to medium sized ungulates. Cheetah are also capable of going without water for up to 10 days, gaining most of their moisture requirements from the body fluids of their kills. When hunting ungulates, which make up most their diet, they employ a similar strategy to the leopard, that of silent stalking and then a rush. The main difference here is that the leopard can tackle the larger antelope, while the cheetah cannot. The cheetah, however, can pursue the faster smaller species, while the leopard does not. To catch its prey the cheetah must overtake it within the first 300 m [1000 ft] of its sprint, as this cat loses its stamina quickly. This is compounded by the fact that on many savannas, cover is often limiting, and thus it may have to break cover some distance from its potential prey. If the cheetah can't get within 50 m [165 ft], however, it won't even attempt the kill. If the cheetah misses, as it does 60 % of the time, it requires at least half an hour to recoup before it can try again. Roughly 70 % of its kills are of impala and other similarly sized ungulates. There are, however, quite a number of documented cases of cheetah being able to kill much larger prey when hunting co-operatively. In one specific scenario, a group of cheetah seems to specialise in giraffe. Even when a successful kill is made, the cheetah now faces other problems. It is seen to gorge itself very quickly, because it is likely to be chased off its kill soon. This problem is further compounded by the fact that making a successful kill is highly energy sapping and cheetah will need several minutes at rest for it to ‘catch its breath’ before it can begin feeding. Depending on the habitat and predator pressure within the area, cheetah may drag the kill into thick bush in an attempt to eat its prize in peace. Cheetah are incapable of dragging a kill into trees in the fashion of leopard, because they lack both the sheer physical strength and are not particularly adept at climbing trees. The overwhelming majority of cheetah kills are taken from them, by lions, leopards, hyenas, wild dogs and even jackal. This further emphasises the tradeoff of strength for speed. Therefore, when cheetah have the opportunity to actually eat their kill they do so in a very specific manner. They select the choice portions of the carcass, including the heart and liver, but generally ignore the intestines. Cheetah who have hunted co-operatively also stand a better chance of being able to defend their kill. The cheetah’s inability to keep or defend its kill is one of the reasons why we don’t even classify cheetah as dangerous game. Unless you actually attempt to interfere with a cheetah and her kittens, cheetah pose no threat to humans. Mammals © Copyright This course material is the copyrighted intellectual property of WildlifeCampus. It may not be copied, distributed or reproduced in any format whatsoever without the express written permission of WildlifeCampus 7 – Game Ranging / Field Guiding Course Social Grouping Cheetahs are often seen in groups, leading some to speculate that they are social carnivores living in family or related groups like lion. However, these groups mostly turn out to be mothers with sub-adult cubs, sub-adult cubs recently separated from their mother or coalitions of males. Adult females without cubs remain solitary. Littermates often stay together for several months, with the females dropping out at two years at their onset of oestrus. The males may stay together permanently. In these coalition groups, the members defend a territory co-operatively. The more members present, the larger the territory, with all the males jointly marking the area. Of 1260 cheetah sightings in the Serengeti (Tanzania) one study produced the following statistics: 40 % were females with cubs 35 % were lone adults 15 % were coalition groups 7 % were littermates on their own 3 % were male - female consorts We can thus conclude that while cheetahs are certainly more sociable than leopard, they do not form the strong social groups of lion. Mammals © Copyright This course material is the copyrighted intellectual property of WildlifeCampus. It may not be copied, distributed or reproduced in any format whatsoever without the express written permission of WildlifeCampus – Game Ranging / Field Guiding Course 8 Reproduction Females come into oestrus at around two years old. They will actively encourage males to find them during oestrus by urinating at all male territory marking locations. In this way males find the females quickly. Typical courtship involves the female alternatively tempting then resisting her suitor before succumbing. After three months of gestation, 1 to 4 cubs are born, usually in a highlysecluded den. During this early period of their lives cheetah young are very prone to predation and will generally stay within the den when their mother is out hunting. During these first three months, the cubs are covered by a fine layer of hair that increases their camouflage. Even so only 10 % of cheetah cubs survive to the yearling stage. Cheetah cubs begin practising catching and killing prey long before they reach independence. Their mother initiates this by bringing antelope fawns to them when they are half a year old. These young ungulates have been caught by the female cheetah, but not killed. She then presents the fawn to her offspring. In this way, they learn by practising their killing technique on these defenceless animals and by observing their mothers. Mammals © Copyright This course material is the copyrighted intellectual property of WildlifeCampus. It may not be copied, distributed or reproduced in any format whatsoever without the express written permission of WildlifeCampus – Game Ranging / Field Guiding Course 9 Conservation Status Cheetah have unfortunately also found a place in the IUCN's endangered species list, and are currently listed as vulnerable. In the past, these magnificent animals were highly sought for their coats. However, the greater majority of women now believe that the coats look better on the cats themselves. Cheetah may live up to 16 years of age. Mammals © Copyright This course material is the copyrighted intellectual property of WildlifeCampus. It may not be copied, distributed or reproduced in any format whatsoever without the express written permission of WildlifeCampus – Game Ranging / Field Guiding Course 10 The “Bottleneck Effect” The greatest threat facing the cheetah today is its poor genetic variability, believed to be because of recurring periods of relatively low numbers (bottlenecks). The genetic uniformity in cheetah populations increases the vulnerability of the species to disease in that the lack of diversity means that most if not all animals will be affected by the disease. A “bottleneck” is a term used by geneticists to describe the situation where many animals are the offspring of a very few parents. This occurs where the parent population is decimated by predation or harsh environmental conditions for example and the few that survive repopulate the species, often with certain genetic effects. In one example, field mice were found on an island with a white blaze on their forehead, which was completely absent in the same species on the mainland. Research later indicated that the population on the island was reduced to a few individuals by predation. By chance, the surviving individuals all had a white blaze and thus produced offspring with the white blaze. Unfortunately, there is no natural reversal of this phenomenon, although in captivity, projects are under way to allow cheetah from different parts of the world to breed in the hope of maintaining some genetic diversity. The possibility of using genetic technology to alter DNA sequences remains an option, albeit an arguably unethical option. Mammals © Copyright This course material is the copyrighted intellectual property of WildlifeCampus. It may not be copied, distributed or reproduced in any format whatsoever without the express written permission of WildlifeCampus