Physical Description

· In Hindi cheetah means spotted one .

· The base color of the upper parts of an adult is brown to block blunt or grayish white, and the underparts are paler, often white. The coat is marked by round or oval black spots measuring .75 to 1.5 in. in diameter.

· The only exception to this is when recessive genes are inherited from both parents resulting in a more spotted coat pattern.

· Cheetahs exhibiting this rare change were once thought to be a separate subspecies, but it is now known that they can appear in a litter of normal cheetahs.

· Only the white of the throat and the abdomen are unmarked with spots.

· The coat is uneven with the hair slightly longer at the nape than elswhere.

· The last third of the tail is marked by four to six black rings and a bushy white tuft at the very end. The tail rings are distinctive on each cheetah and enable individual identification.

· The cheetah has a small head with short ears, high set eyes and a black line which looks like a tear drop running from the inner aspect of each eye down to the mouth.

· The teeth are small and the nasal passages are large. The body resembles that of a greyhound and is slim with very long legs. An adult cheetah measures 67 to 94 cm.

· tall at the shoulder, and is 121 to 150 cm. in length, with an additional 70 to 81 cm. in tail length. The cheetah exhibits slight sexual dimorphism with the males being the larger sex.

Reproduction

Females are fertile, with an average cycle of twelve days.

Fertility lasts for one to three days.

Breeding occurs throughout the year.

A peak birth season has been noted during March through June.

Gestation lasts 90 to 95 days.

The number of young born can be one to eight, but is usually three to five.

At birth cubs are on average 11.8 inches long and weigh 0.6 pounds.

They are gray in color and have a mantle of mane-like hair along their back.

It has been assumed that this mantle helps camouflage the cheetah cubs in the grass.

The mantle begins to disappear at three months.

It may still be seen at 2 years of age.

During the first few weeks of life the cubs are moved every few days by their mother to avoid predators.

The mother must leave the cubs alone to hunt.

During these times cubs often fall victim to predators.

Infant death rates may be as high as 90%. This is because majority of them are being killed by lions.

Cubs begin to follow their mother at 6 weeks of age.

Cubs are stopped at three to six months.

The cubs usually remain with their mother for 13 to 20 months,

During which time she teaches them to hunt.

Sexual maturity is reached at 2 years of age.

Behavior

	Female cheetah are solitary, except when they have a litter.
	Young females leave their natural group, but usually occupy the same home range as their mother.
	Sibling males will often leave their natural group together and form groups.
	They seek out an area a great distance from their mother.
	It has been suggested that male groups help one another in hunting and defending a territory.
	Male groups claim a range which may overlap several female territories.
	Unrelated males are sometimes accepted into groups.
	It is rare to see a lone male.
	The only time a lone male can protect a region is if there are no groups in the area.
	Males and females mix only to mate.
	The males do not participate in cub childhood.
	Life span in the wild can be up to 14 years.
	The average lifespan is 7 years of age.

Food habits

	Cheetah hunt in early morning and late afternoon (diurnal) which is during daytime.
	They scan the country side from a tree limb, on top of a termite mound, or even the roofs of cars of observers in order to locate prey.
	Once they have located an animal that has orphaned some distance from the group, the cheetah tries to get within fifty yards of the intended victim before increasing.
	Full sprints last roughly twenty seconds and rarely go beyond one minute.
	Most hunts fail.
	If the hunt is successful, the prey is usually knocked down by the force of the cheetah's charge and then tied down by its throat and strangled.
	Smaller prey such as rabbits are usually killed by biting through the skull.
	A female with cubs may make a kill every day.
	Adult cheetah’s hunt every two to five days.
	Cheetah eat fast because if challenged for their food, they most often lose.

There are no longer cheetahs in India, now they roam only in Africa