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However, it is the darkest in fur color. This cheetah has the most widespread and separated black dorsal spots, but smaller than that of the East African cheetah's. [9] [10] In contrast to the East African cheetah, the Northeast African cheetah has no spots on the hind feet, although some among the Chadian population have spotted hind legs. [4]
The earliest African cheetah fossils from the early Pleistocene have been found in the lower beds of the Olduvai Gorge site in northern Tanzania. [7]Not much was known about the East African cheetah's evolutionary story, although at first, the East and Southern African cheetahs were thought to be identical as the genetic distance between the two subspecies is low. [13]
Cheetahs can go from 0 to 97 km/h (0 to 60 mph) in less than 3 seconds. [108] There are indirect ways to measure how fast a cheetah can run. One case is known of a cheetah that overtook a young male pronghorn. Cheetahs can overtake a running antelope with a 140 m (150 yd) head start.
This can be explained partly by the finding that moment arms of muscles at the knee and ankle joint in the cheetah are proportionally larger than those of the greyhound. [4] A similar comparison can be made between two similar species of lizards. It was found that geckoes more adapted for climbing have greater hip and shoulder retractor moment ...
The female's home range's size can depend on the prey base. Cheetahs in southern African woodlands have ranges as small as 34 km 2 (13 sq mi), while in some parts of Namibia, they can reach 1,500 km 2 (580 sq mi). Female cheetahs can reproduce at 13 to 16 months of age and with a typical age of sexual maturity between 20 and 23 months. [40]
The main prey of the Northwest African cheetah are antelopes which have adapted to an arid environment, such as the addax, Dorcas gazelle, rhim gazelle, and dama gazelle. It also preys on smaller mammals such as hares. Cheetahs can subsist without direct access to water, obtaining water indirectly from the blood of their prey. [12]
Acinonyx is a genus within the Felidae family. [1] The only living species of the genus, the cheetah (A. jubatus), lives in open grasslands of Africa and Asia. [2]Several fossil remains of cheetah-like cats were excavated that date to the late Pliocene and Middle Pleistocene. [3]
The Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) is a critically endangered cheetah subspecies currently only surviving in Iran. [1] Its range once spread from the Arabian Peninsula and the Near East to the Caspian region, Transcaucasus, Kyzylkum Desert and northern South Asia, but was extirpated in these regions during the 20th century.