This is a report about the cheetah I wrote this for my friend and her name is Amanda J.

1. Customer: Michelle Colton
Animal: Cheetah
Report by: Felicia Ferentinos
Cheetah Report
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Cheetahs are a carnivore which means that they only eat meat. The
foods that they eat are impalas, gazelles, rabbits, birds, antelope but
they would have to be small. The cheetah usually goes after small
animals Cheetahs will usually eat other animals like other predators
do but sometimes they will also eat other foods like a hungry cheetah
will go after birds, hares, lizards, Cheetahs can also eat bird eggs and
fruit are also good for the cheetahs diet. They will also eat wildebeest
calves and other small hoofed animals. When a cheetah gets closer
to their prey then they will go for the bite their prey by the throat so
that the prey will not be able to breathe when the cheetah gets a meal
will not start to eat their meal when they first get it but first they need
to take a breathe before they can start their meal and they will have
to cool down a bit. When the cheetah is ready they would have to eat
fast before other predators would steal it from it. The predators that
would steal a meal from a cheetah are lions, hyenas and vultures will
steal a kill from a cheetah. The cheetah will also eat a guinea fowl,
francolins, springhares and a ostrich. They can hunt by hiding behind
tall grass so that they can stalk their prey then when the time is right
then they will race out to attack their prey. A cheetah’s hunt is all
about sight after they spot a herd from a termite mound or an other
high point then a victim will get singled out and then the cheetah will
chase the prey. Cheetahs maybe fast but they can't maintain their top
speed for a long time. If the prey gets a head start then it is better to
endurance might them to escape the cheetah. Even with successful
hunts. The cheetah can be an exhausted that it maybe 30 minutes
before the animal can eat and then after the cheetah is done with the
meal then it will leave it so that other predators can have it like lions
or hyenas because the competition for food is so intense adult
cheetahs often hunt by themselves. When the prey is running then
the cheetah will trip the prey with its paw and then it will start to bite it
through the neck of the animal so that it can fall and it will not be able
to breathe. Sometimes leopards and jackals can easily steal a kill
from a cheetah. The antelope that the cheetah can get are really
small antelope like the Thomson's gazelles and impalas. Cheetahs

2. usually go after small mammals and sometimes birds are also on a
cheetahs menu. When the cheetah is hunting then it will depend on
its cover so that it can stalk its prey. The cheetah has to get close as
possible to the animal that it is trying to hunt. Then with their burst
speed will try to outrun the prey when the cheetah is close enough to
the animal then it will knock the prey down with it's paw and will try to
make the animal stop breathing they can to this by biting their prey by
the neck. A cheetah will take a half hour to catch it's breath before
they can start eating. Cheetahs usually go after small or medium
sized animals. After they are done hunting then the cheetah must eat
very fast so that it can be taking away from other predators like
leopards, lions and hyenas because cheetahs are not strong enough
to hide or even guard their kill so they have no chance but to eat it as
fast as possible. Cheetahs must hunt more often so that they can
have more energy than other big cats do. The cheetah just eats the
meat they do not eat the skin and bones of the porcupines and the
ostriches. Cheetahs can eat a mammal when they are less than 40
kg (90 lb). This also includes the Thomson's gazelles and the impala,
wildebeest and their calves are also prey species for the cheetah.
Cheetahs usually hunt easily in the morning or maybe later during the
evening. Most big cats usually hunt when the sun goes down but not
the cheetah they will hunt when the weather is not to hot but there is
lots of light for them to see their prey cheetahs usually count on the
senses of sight to find their prey then finding the scent of the prey.
Cheetahs will also hunt gnus to. Cheetahs used to live in Europe,
Asia, and North America and all over Africa. Now today they can only
be seen in small numbers in Asia. The cheetah would probably prefer
the woodlands and on open plains they live where their is lots of prey
to catch with their top speed. Cheetahs can be found on open
savannas. The cheetah can live and hunt usually on open grasslands
and in bushy locations that are in parts of Africa and in the Middle
East. Cheetahs usually live in Africa and in Southwestern of Asia their
habitats are temperate grasslands and in tropical savannas. The
cheetah can be found in deserts and in savannas. They also live in
Africa and in the east part of Asia. Cheetahs live on open grasslands
because so that they can have a lot of space to run and to hunt.
They can see an animal on a rocky outcrop so that they can watch for
prey and for other predators. Some cheetahs can live on very dry
grasslands that are near deserts and in cold mountain places. The
cheetahs habitat can also be a thick brush and in semi-deserts.

3. Cheetahs live in some parts of Africa and they live in small area that
they live in lran. Their habitats are in grasslands and on open plains.
The cheetahs that lived in Asia and in the Middle East probably got
extinct in these locations. Cheetahs also live in areas that are dense
vegetation and they can also live in mountain terrain areas in Africa
and in lran. They also live on open plains in these places to. The size
of their home range depends on the availability of their prey. The
cheetahs that live on Africa's woodland their range is small as 34 km
square miles but their are some parts of Namibia that they can reach
about 1500 km square miles . There has been no studies of female
cheetahs in Sahara are the biggest population of all the cheetah
species. The most common place to find cheetahs is on eastern and
in Southwest of Africa there are only 7,000 up to 10,000 of cheetahs
lifted in these areas. Cheetahs are also found in the sub-Saharan of
Africa. Even through cheetahs are found in lran and they are found in
some different places in eastern and southern of Africa. The biggest
population of Cheetah is in Namibia this place is located in South-
western of Africa. The size of a cheetah is 30 inches to the shoulder
and they can weight about 110 to 140 pounds. A male cheetah can
grow about 7 feet (2.15 m) long they can also weight about 125
pounds (55 kg). Female cheetahs are a lot smaller then the males
they can grow to 6 feet (1.8 m) long they can weigh about 100
pounds (45kg). The length of the cheetahs body and head are
measure around 112 to 135 cm. A cheetah’s tail can be tall as 66 to
84 cm. The cheetahs shoulder height is 2 to 3 feet (67 to 94
centimeters). The length of a cheetah is 3, 6 to 4.4 feet (1 to 1.4
meters). The cheetah’s tail can also be tall as 26 to 33 inches (66 to
84 centimeters). The weight of a cheetah is 86 to 143 pounds (39 to
65 kilograms). An adult cheetah can weigh about from 86 to 143
pounds (39 to 65 kilograms). A cheetah’s body and head can grow
about 44 to 53 inches (112 to135 centimeters) long. A fully grown
cheetah tail can grow measures of 26 to 33 inches (66 to 84
centimeters) long. An adult cheetah can weigh about 80 to140
pounds. Their other average body length is 4 feet and their tail is a
few inches over the half or even longer. The size of their body is 4 1of
1/2 ft (1.4 lb). The size of a cheetah is 3 to 6ft (1.1-1.5m). The weigh
of an adult cheetah is 140 pounds and their body can grow about five
feet long. The cheetah’s tail can grow about 30 inches in a length.
The weigh of an adult cheetah is 40 to 65 kg (90 to 114 lb). The total
body length of a cheetah is 112 to 135 cm (45 in to 55 in). A

4. cheetah's tail can measure to 84 cm (33in). A cheetah can live about
17 years. The cheetah can also live about 10 to 20 years. They can
also live about 12 years to. To 10 and 12 years is their average life
span. The cheetahs that live in the wild can live about 12 years and
when they are in captivity they can live about 20 years. When they
are in captivity they can live about 17 years when they are in a zoo.
The cheetahs that live in zoos can also live about 13 years and when
they are in the wild they can live about 15 years. The cheetah is the
fastest animal on earth it can run about 55 to 60 miles (88 to 97 km)
per hour. This is like the speed of car when it travels on the highway.
Some people say that the cheetah can run about 60 or 70 miles (97
or 113 kilometers) an hour over in short distances. A cheetah can
sprint into action very fast. It can go for 0 to 50 miles an hour 10 to 80
km an hour) in two seconds this how fast than a car can go when it is
driving to a city. Cheetahs are so fast that they can run over in short
distances. They can sprint across the African savannah in the speeds
of 60 mph (100 kg) but they would have to stop running when they
reach 20 seconds so that they do not get to hot. Adult cheetah can
reach their top speed for 62 miles per hour when they need to run this
fast. A cheetah’s normal speed is usually 37 to 43 miles an hour
when they are chasing their prey. A cheetah's top speed can cover
23 feet (7.3 meters) for only in four footfalls’ cheetah can reach a
speed for 68 mph the cheetah has nondeductible claws ( the other
big cats do not do this). This comes in hardly when the cheetah is
running on soft grounds. Other big cats chase their prey by ambush
but the cheetah is build for speed they use their tail to stabilizer. Their
tail helps them to turn into the location that it needs to be to catch its
prey. when they go for 0 to 50 miles per hour (0 to 80 km an hour)
they can only do this for 2 seconds once they do this speed they can
not run for a long a time they can only go for less then a minute they
have to stop and they have to rest before they can continue on
hunting their prey animal that they are trying to catch. Cheetahs have
very good eyesight they can see an animal that can be seen faraway.
They use their good sense of sight to look for food. The other thing
that the cheetah is different then the other big cats is that the other
cats are more active at night. Cheetahs usually hurt during the day or
when it is morning. The cheetah’s slim body, their long legs and their
flexible are build for speed. A cheetah can take long strides and they
will move across the ground very fast. The cheetah's large lungs can
let the cheetah to breathe for air. The cheetah’s long tail can help

5. them with their balance when they need to change direction. When
the cheetah is running it can get really hot so the cheetah can only
run for one minute. After they are done running they will take a break
and if their body does not stop them their body will get to hot for them
to run anymore. The cheetahs claws do not complete retracted like
other cats can. Their claws help them to keep in film grip on the
ground when they are running. A cheetah can also run about 100
yards in less then four seconds. This as twice as fast then any human
is able to do. Cheetahs can be seen in full stretch when they lift all of
their four legs off of the ground when they are running very fast. A
cheetah can run very fast with one stride that kind a looks like that it
is flying in the air. A cheetah’s top speed is 300 yards (274 meters) as
far as two and a half that is how far as a football field then it has to
stop so that it can rest. Cheetahs are build for speed they get their
speed power by their legs and their springy backbones that is on their
streamlined, muscular bodies. Not like other big cats cheetahs count
on their speed then their strength to help them to survive. The
cheetah has the ability to run will start with their flexible spine this will
let the cat's front legs to stretch far forward in every stride. They can
run over 20 to 22 feet (6 to 6.7 meters) in one stride that is like the
same speed and distance that a racehorse has. But the cheetah is lot
faster then a racehorse. A racehorse normal speed is 43 miles per
hour (69 kilometers per hour). A speed of a cheetah is more like 70
miles per hour (112 kilometers per hour). Cheetahs will be off the
ground then more then a half of their running time. Their claws help
them when they are running because they are so hard and sharp like
cleats they can give great traction when they are running. In Egypt
and other ancient civilations cheetahs were once kept as pets they
are use as pets for hunting companions having a cheetah for a pet
was very popular then dogs. Long time ago kings and other rulers
used kept cheetahs they used to put these animals in their private
zoos. Cheetahs are even tamed. The rulers trained their cheetahs
how to be tamed. These tamed Cheetahs were used to hunt other
animals. In 5,000 years ago ancient Egyptians taught their cheetahs
how to be tamed. In 500 years ago a ruler that lived in India once
kept 9,000 cheetahs and the ruler that lived in India taught his
cheetahs how to hunt deer. There are about 1,000 cheetahs that are
living in zoos all around the world today. There are about 300
cheetahs that are living in zoos in the United States. Cheetahs do not
drink water because they get their moisture from the bodies of their

6. prey. People in the past used to train cheetahs to hunt and lots of
civilizations depicted them were in their art made records for these
cats. Cheetahs were once so popular to the Akbar the great who lives
in India said that this person kept a stable of 1,000 cheetahs that this
person kept as pets. The cheetah used to be domesticated by the
aristocrats that were once used to hunt antelopes it is kind of the
same way that it is done with the members of the greyhound group
dogs. There are about 200 cheetahs that are living in Iran. Now today
cheetahs can now be found on Africa. There are 5 different
subspecies of cheetah that live in Africa and in Iran. Cheetahs are
very friendly to people long time ago people used to train cheetahs
how to hunt. Even the Cheetahs that live in today's zoos can often be
near people without even hurting them. Cheetahs often live by
themselves most of the time. Sometimes males can be in a group
with other male cheetahs to help them to hunt. Often the reason that
they stay together is because they are brothers They usually stay
together after they are grown up When there is a time when two or
more cheetahs come together this is called a coalition. A coalition
may last for few days or as long as a cheetah lives for. Sometimes
when a cheetah does see each other they usually start a fight. When
a male is fighting is often means that he is trying to protect a female.
Females will often fight for their cubs. The cheetahs close relatives
are the other big cats like the lion, tiger and the leopard. Cheetahs
live in a special area that is called a territory this is the place where
they find their food and water. In often the cheetah never lives its
territory. Some Territories are not always the same size. It only
matters there are plenty of food for the cheetah. There are some
territories that can be small like in desert locations where places that
food and water are scarce are. A cheetah’s territory can be big as
620 square miles that is like the same size as a big city. The females
are a lot different then the males because the females live on their
own and they avoid each other. There have been times when mother
and daughter were seen as a pair which can last for small periods of
time. The other reason why the females are different then the males
because females do not guard their territory. Female cheetahs often
stay in the same territory with their mothers and they sometimes
share their territory with their mother's to. Unlike the other big cats the
cheetah does not roar instead it will make a birdlike chirp this sound
is usually used by females when they are calling their cubs. When the
cheetah is excited it will make a yelp sound. The cheetah can also

7. make a hissing and it can also snarls when it is agitated and even
they can even purr when they are in content. When the males have
moved away from their mother so that they can find a territory of their
own. Males usually stay together even sometimes they are joined
with other males that were in different families. When a group of
males have found a territory then it will protect it by making boulders
and termite mounds with a strong-smelling urine that warns the other
males to stay away from its territory. A Male cheetah will often kill
other males that will enter their territory. The males usually live in a
small group with other males in other families and the female lives
alone that means they are solitary a other word for them to be alone
and that lives alone and that does not live in a group. Cheetahs are
different to lions and tigers because cheetahs can not roar like the
other big cats can. The sounds that a cheetah can make are purrs,
hiss, whine and they can also growl. They can make a variety of
contact calls the most common contact call that they use most often
is kind of like a birdlike chirping sound. All the other big cats are more
active at night expert for the cheetah they are more active during the
day. It sometimes hunts at night but they usually rests on the day that
it is to hot to hurt. If a day is to hot for them to run then they will cool
off and rest under a tree. A cheetah’s territory can be very big it can
be big as 300 square miles (800 square kilograms) this is usually the
size for the cheetahs that live on the Serengeti plains. Female
cheetahs usually live by themselves after they are separate from their
mother and the males are ready to leave their mother's territory when
they reach 18 years old. Cheetahs hunt by themselves expert for the
part that when it is time for them to mate. Cheetah cubs have a mane
that can be seen on their neck and their shoulders which will
disappear when they get older. A cheetah can mate in all year long.
After the male is done mating then the male will go on his own. A
cheetah cub’s gestation period is 3 months, 90 and 95 days a
cheetah can have 1 to 8 but the most common cubs that they usually
get are 3 to 5 cubs. They can also have 2 or 3 cubs. The cubs will be
born after the first 12 weeks. After they are born the mother will start
to feed them milk. The cub’s teeth will begin to grow when they reach
three weeks old. The cubs will be ready to have meat when they are
six weeks old. A mother cheetah can be very devoted with her cubs
because mother cheetahs have no help on protective to her young.
She never lets her cubs out of her sight. In two years the cubs will
start to do everything with their mother and their littermates. They will

8. spend a lot of time cleaning each other which is called grooming.
When the mother has taught them how to be good hunters then
everyone in the littler will begin to leave her they will leave their
mother in a group. In many months the female cubs will start to leave
their brothers then after that the cheetahs will start to begin their lives
as solitary cheetahs. Female cheetahs usually live by themselves
except for the part when they are raising cubs and they raise their
cubs by themselves when the cubs reach 7 months old then they will
join their mother when she goes on a hunting trip. The cubs will watch
how her mother hunts and then they will quickly learn how to chase
and catch their prey. Sometimes the mother will bring back an animal
back to them but she does not kill the animal it is still alive she does
not kill the animal because so that the cubs can learn how to kill an
animal for them selves that the mother being back to them. The
mother will start to leave her cubs when the cubs reach 14 to 18
months old. The female cubs stay in the same area with their mother.
The males usually move away from their mother so that they can find
a territory of their own. At many times a male cheetah will mate with a
female after a small while after the pair is done mating. Most often
females usually live by themselves except for when they have cubs.
Some cheetahs have 2 or 4 cubs they are born in a very quiet place
like in a brush are in small grass so that she can give birth. Their
eyes will not open in a week or maybe in two weeks. They can be
very blind and helpless the moment that they are born. When the
mother goes out to hunt then she will leave her cubs she will hide her
cubs somewhere predators can not see them and kill them. When the
cubs reach 6 years old they are old enough to follow their mother
everywhere even when she goes to hunt. They will continue to drink
milk for 2 or 3 months but they will start to eat meat when they are 3
weeks old. After 4 months have passed the cheetah cubs have a
tawny yellow and they are little bit done being spotted. Their tail will
have bands that have the color of black when they are adults their tail
will turn into white. The grayish mantle will start to disappear very
slowly. The last of their traces will start to disappear when they are
adults and when they are 15 months old. The cubs will spend most of
their time learning the skills that their mother will teach them to do
when they are older. The cubs will practice doing their hunting
techniques they learn their hunting skills by playing games with each
other. Male cheetahs usually live alone but sometimes they can be
seen in small groups with their littermates. Female cheetahs raise

9. their cubs themselves. A cheetah usually gives birth in hidden places
which are in tall grass, under a tree or maybe under a rock. The
average littler of a cheetah they usually give birth to three cubs in a
littler. A cheetah cub can grow about one foot (.3 m) long, and they
can weigh around eight pounds (four kg). Cheetah cubs are born with
their eyes closed and they can hardly walk. The cub’s fur is fuzzy
dark gray. The cheetah cub’s fur is long and it can be thick. Their fur
makes them bigger then they already are. Their fur protects them
from big predators that are looking for small animals to catch and eat.
At first the cubs will spent its time nursing from it's mother but sooner
are later she will have to leave her cubs so that she can go hunting
she can be gone for a whole day. When cheetahs are out by
themselves they have to hunt every other day when they are feeding
just themselves but when the cheetah has cubs she has to hunt every
day so that she can provide food for the cubs and for herself. In one
week after the cubs are born their eyes will begin to open and they
will begin to start crawling. Soon after the cubs will start to grow teeth
and they will have the ability to walk. By four weeks they will start to
eat meat any meat that their mother gives them. Pretty soon she will
teach her cubs how to hunt but to help them with their training she will
not kill the prey she will give the prey to her cubs to see if they can kill
it this can help the cubs practice catching prey. When the cubs have
the ability to hunt they will follow their mother when she goes on a
hunting trip. If the mother can not find her cubs then she will use a
chirping sound to call to her cubs. When the cub is lost then it will
make a chirp noise to and then the mother has found her cub. When
the cubs are 6 months old then they will help their mother with her
hunting. When the time that they reach 6 months old their fuzzy fur
will start to fall out and then they will start to look like real adult
cheetahs. When the cubs are one year old then the cubs will learn
how to hunt by themselves. During this time of the cubs lives the
mother will leave her cubs for good then they will start to live with out
her they are out on their own. Cheetah mothers can have two or five
cubs they will stay with their mother for the first 18 months of their
lives. Under the mother's care the cubs will watch their mother hunt
so that they can learn how to hunt just like her. They learn by
watching her and then later on they will practice to do it by
themselves. Some two or more cheetahs will stay together. But other
times each cheetah will stay on its own place to hunt and to live in the
wild. A female cheetah has to hunt every day so that she can feed

10. her cubs. A male cheetah and a female cheetah can mate in any time
of the year. A female cheetah will give birth to a litter are a group of
cubs which it can take place after three months that the mother has
been pregnant for. A female cheetah can have one cub or maybe
even six cubs. The average number of a cheetah litter is two or 4
cubs this is usually how many cubs that a cheetah can have. A
cheetah cub can live in a very dangerous world because of lions and
other meat eating animals may try to kill any cheetah cub. Cheetah
cubs do have some protection around them that can help them hide
when their mother is not around to protect them. The cubs are
covered with a lot of gray fur which are called a mantle. The mantle
helps the cubs to hide in the long grass so that lions and other meat-
eating animals will not be able to found them and kill them.
Sometimes the mother will move her cubs from a hiding place to a
other place a cheetah mother usually does this in every few days so
that can protect them but there are 90 percent of cubs that are still
dying in the wild. When the cubs get older they will be able to follow
their mother everywhere she goes and they will be able to learn from
her. When the cubs are just starting to eat meat they will eat what
ever prey that their mother has just killed and then she will being it to
her cubs. Later their mother will teach her cubs how to hunt on their
own. Cheetah cubs will stay with their mother for 18 months then they
are out on their own. Cheetahs can also use lots of sounds to
communicate in so many different ways they can make a sound that
kind a sounds like a bird chirping this sound is called a chirrup This
sound usually means that they are excited. Mother cheetahs can also
use this sound to call to their cubs. The other sounds that they use to
communicate are purring, growling, snarling, hissing, coughing,
moaning and bleating. Cheetahs can not roar like lions and tigers
can. Cheetahs can make a unique sound that is called a stutter bark
they usually use this call during the mating season. Cheetahs are
really are endangered today they are head to extinction very fast. The
reason why because of loss of habitat of the numbers of their prey
combine is treating the future for the lives of the cheetah. There are a
number of reasons why the cheetah is endangered today. The
leading of the severe of inbreeding has been occurred long right
before humans have began to impacting the cheetah habitat.
Cheetahs usually hunt during the day this means that they can get
affected by tourists that go on safari rides that travel into cheetah
habitat. A cheetah’s habitat is the open savanna they mostly like

11. locations that they can be occupied by humans. Today there are
12,000 cheetahs left on our planet today there use to be 100,000
cheetahs that lived in 100 years ago. Ranchers are shooting
cheetahs because it can kill the rancher’s livestock. Then the people
get mad and want to kill the cheetah. Other cheetahs in other areas
have become extinct in lots of areas. The other reason why they are
in trouble because their habitats are starting to shrink there are not a
lot of prey species for them to hunt. Their has been a disease and in
a high rate of a cub's mortality that has happen in some locations
there are 50 or 75 percent of cheetah cubs have died before they
could reach 3 months. Cheetahs have been hunted for their spotted
fur right now the cheetah is being protected but their are poaching
and habitat destruction are still going on in Cheetah locations.
Cheetahs have been domesticated by people for thousands of years
they use to help with hunting for food for villagers. Cheetahs have
been kept in captivity for a very long period of time. They do not seem
to produce healthy individuals. Cheetahs that live in the wild have
been caught to restore bloodlines. Cheetahs have been hunted by
humans to make trophies that are throughout much of their natural
range. Lots of cheetahs have started to disappear in number of
places this is happening because they are starting to loss their
habitats and the human population keeps on growing and they are
clearing up their land so that they can make room for agriculture. The
cheetah's numbers are still bad in lots of different areas today.
Scientists have believe that the numbers of cheetahs livening on
earth has never been great. Today there ranges in Africa and in Asia
are starting to shrink very fast. Cheetah’s need a lot of our help the
future for the fastest land animal are earth rests in the hands of
humans. People are helping with the breeding process in captivity.
Scientists have hoped that they will learn about more about cheetahs
in captive and they are hoping that it will help the future for the
cheetahs that live in the wild. In 4 million years ago cheetahs used to
live in North America. Scientists have found cheetah fossils that are
found in Texas, Nevada, and in Wyoming. The North American
cheetahs started to disappear long ago. The cheetah is an
endangered animal because there are a few cheetahs left on our
planet. There are three main reasons why the world's fastest land
animal is endangered. The reason one people are taking over their
land by making farms, towns and cities over their habitats. This is
problem because people are taking a lot of space for the cheetah and

12. their prey to live on so it is really hard for them to look for food
because their is not an enough room for them to live on. The other
problem why the cheetah is in trouble because hunters and poachers
are killing them for their fur. Lots of farmers are fearing that cheetah
is killing their livestock. Lots of cheetahs are being protected in
wildlife parks in Africa. These parks can also have lions and hyenas
that can easily steal a cheetah’s meal. If a lion or a hyena has found
a cheetah eating then they will chase the cheetah away. Cheetahs
can not fight back because their skin in made for running not for
fighting. Some African tourists often see these cats up close in
protected areas. Together we can save the fastest land animal in the
world if we work together the cheetah will continue to live on our
planet. They will continue to run and caught their prey. That is what I
know about the Cheetah.