THE CHEETAH

THE CHEETAH
(by Hajer ben Salah et Linda Ishtar Ben salem)
6éme B

PRESENTATION
•The cheetah is a large mammal of the felid
family living in Africa and West Asia. The
cheetah has a thin appearance, with long
slender legs and a face with a short muzzle
marked by two black traces starting from the
eyes. Its coat is entirely spotted with black
on a very light beige background the little
ones are provided with a short mane that
disappears in adulthood. It is considered the
fastest land animal in the world

MORPHOLOGY
•The muscular body resembles that
of a slender greyhound, almost
thin, with long legs contrasting
sharply with most other big cats
Its chest is deep and its waist
narrow. The bones are light and
the spine, extremely flexible, allows
it to project its hind limbs very far
The claws of the cheetah are not
totally retractile or hooked, unlike
those of other felines This
peculiarity allows it to run very fast

PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE
•The cheetah travels some seven or eight
meters in a single stride and completes
four strides per second. This makes it
one of the fastest quadruped mammals.
•a cheetah in captivity reached a record
speed of 112 km/h16
•When the cheetah arrives close enough
to its prey, it often happens to make a
simple fang and thus, to unbalance it so
that it makes a fatal fall due to the
speed

ALIMENTATION
•Its diet is carnivorous, mainly consisting of mammals
weighing less than 50 kg, including several varieties of
antelopes, such as gazelles, springboks, peleas, impalas,
small kudus, cobes, young wildebeest and topis, steenboks,
ourébis, but also young warthogs and ostriches, hares,
rabbits, and sometimes guinea fowls