Card #020 · Mammals
Cheetah
Acinonyx jubatus
Rare VU · Vulnerable
Field notes
- Classification
- Order Carnivora · Family Felidae
- Range
- Sub-Saharan Africa & a small Iranian population
- Size
- 1.1–1.5 m (3.6–4.9 ft)
- Weight
- 21–65 kg (46–143 lb)
- Lifespan
- ~10–12 yrs (wild)
- Diet
- Carnivore
Most Notable
The fastest land animal alive: it reaches about 104 km/h (65 mph) and accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in under three seconds, out-launching most sports cars.
Built entirely for the sprint, it grips the ground with semi-retractable claws like a runner's spikes and swings its long tail as a rudder to corner at full speed, yet it can chase only a few hundred metres before it must stop to rest.
Only around 6,500 adult cheetahs remain in the wild, spread across less than a tenth of their former African range, which is why the species is now listed as Vulnerable.
A separate population once ranged across the Middle East and India; today only about a dozen Asiatic cheetahs survive, all in the central deserts of Iran.
Unlike lions and the other big cats, cheetahs cannot roar. They chirp, purr, and yip, sounding at times more like a bird than a big cat.
Range: Eastern and southern Africa, with a small relict population in Iran.