Download Endangered Species: The Cheetah

Endangered Species:
The Cheetah
Erica Porco & Ashley Miller
Cheetah Fact Sheet
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Height: 30 inches at shoulder
Weight: 69-140 lbs.
Body length: 4 ft.
Tail Length 28.5 inches
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Genus: Acinonyx
Species: Jubatus
How does this effect us, the
environment, and other organisms?
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Many people fear predators like the cheetah but don’t realize that their unique
behaviors, special adaptations, and essential roles in the maintenance of healthy
ecosystems.
The animals that cheetahs hunt (for example gazelles) may become over-populated if
this species is eliminated.
The Hunting life: The Article
• Almost as soon as they can walk, cubs race, and knock each other
down and stalk and nip their siblings to develop their skills as
successful killing machines.
• In order to learn what to eat the mother must kill for her offspring.
• Between the ages of 2-3 months cubs begin to accompany their
mother on the hunt.
• Between 8 months and a year the mother releases about 1/3 of the
prey she catches and the cubs, at least occasionally, kill the animals
on their own.
• A young female will be the first to strike out and begin life on her
own, where as males are lazy relying on their mothers and sisters to
capture prey for them
Nowhere To Run: The Article
• Habitat destruction and lion predation on cubs to conflict with human
farmers and ranchers have been threatening this species survival.
• 20,000 years ago: cheetahs ranged throughout world, including
North America and have evolved
• 10,000 years ago: at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch cheetah
populations dropped dramatically severely reducing the species
genetic variability
• Today: only about 50 Asian cheetahs survive in the wild. Almost all
of them in Iran. African cheetahs are believes to number about
12,500 down from an estimated 100,000 at the end of the 19th
century
What organizations have joined the
cause?
• Namibia is an organization founded in 1990. Their mission is to be
internationally recognized as a center of excellence in research and
education on cheetahs and their ecosystems. It is a proactive
organization to find solutions to help people help the cheetah. This is
reflected in the cheetah conservation fund vision: “we see a world in
which cheetahs live and flourish in co-existence with people and the
environment. Projects: education project, conservation projects.
• Adopt A Cheetah: from the Tree Frog Trading Co.: The price is
$35.00. the package deluxe photo fact sheet and certificate
Why Save The Cheetahs?
We need to save cheetahs because every
animal is part of an ecosystem. You may not
know it but cheetahs are
already endangered or threatened.