Cheetah

(Jrt)

Cheetah
The cheetah - the Italian gattopardo, gatto "chat", and pardo "Leopard" - is a cat (Felidae) belonging to the genus Acinonyx that only one species: Acinonyx jubatus.

Morphology

The body, muscular, like a greyhound: it is slim, almost thin, with very long legs. His chest is deep and narrow its size. The bones were light and the spine, extremely flexible, it can project its hind limbs far, and thus running very quickly. Its tail is long and it serves as a balance to balance during the race. The cheetah's claws are not retractable, unlike those of other felines (Acinonyx means "does not move his claws" in Greek). This feature prevents them from climbing trees and thus conceal its prey in the eyes of predators. Only children can climb trees, and they are not very good. The inability to conceal his prey in the hills and gracile its morphology, which disadvantage compared to the lion, leopard or other scavengers (hyenas, wild dogs ...), prevents power cheetah tasted its prey with serenity . He must eat quickly, and is often forced to abandon its prey to carnivores bigger or many.

It has a small head and a short nose, eyes placed high and clearly defined, highlighted by a black line resembling a teardrop running of the birth of each eye to the mouth. The trails improve his vision while minimizing glare of the sunlight. The ears are small and round. Compared to other big cats, teeth are small, perhaps because of the broad nasal passages, ensuring good oxygenation during the race.

Size

The cheetah showed a slight sexual dimorphism: males is the larger of the two sexes. A cheetah adult measuring 1.85 to 2.30 m in length, 0.7 to 0.8 m for the tail, and 67 to 94 cm in height at the withers.

Mass

The adult animal weighing 40 to 65 kg, the female is more lightly.

Longevity

In captivity, a cheetah can live 6 to 7 years on average, or less than a cat but almost as a lion. The cheetah is sensitive, a bad cold during the rainy season can be fatal.


Fur

In Hindi, cheetah (name adopted in English) means "spotted". The basic color of the upper parts of an adult extends from the tawny beige or pale grayish white, the lower parts of the dress is a paler, often white. The fur is dotted with black spots, round or oval, measuring between two and four centimeters in diameter. Only the white throat and abdomen is free of blemishes. The fur is thick with hair slightly longer on the neck and elsewhere. The remaining third of the tail is crowned four to six and has black rings at the end of a thick white tuft. The rings of the tail are characteristics of each cheetah and allow individual identification.

When a recessive gene, passed by both parents, speaks, it follows a pattern with stains bigger and a black band on their backs extending from head to tail. It was thought that cheetahs have this gene was of a rare sub-species, but they may appear in a range of normal cheetahs. We call these cheetahs of cheetahs or royal rex.

Performances physical

The cheetah runs about seven or eight metres in a single heels and performs four strides per second. This makes the mammalian quadruped fastest known: it can reach speeds of more than 120 km / h, although they can maintain that speed over 500 meters. On a longer distance, it would be far outweighed by an antelope (up to 85 km / h on six kilometers) or an ostrich.

The legs of cheetahs are less rounded and more solid than most cats, and this helps them to take turns. The nails, semi-retractile provide traction and grip in a race and thus contribute to maintaining the accelerations. Finally, his little head is more aerodynamic.


Cri

The cry of the cheetah is very close to the calls of birds. Sometimes, certain sounds are equally miaulement think of a cat. At the cheetah shows his anger, as it blows our cats gutter.

Shape of rare cheetah

The cheetah rex

The royal cheetah is sometimes regarded as a sub-species (Acinonyx jubatus rex), which result from a recessive mutation. It is found in areas most in a small wooded area of South Africa. His hair seems to provide an excellent camouflage in the Miombo - pan covered with a forest caducifoliée interspersed with vast grassy wet depressions and characterized by the predominance of Brachystegia trees genres, and Julbernardia Isoberlinia - Botswana and Zimbabwe. The proof that it is not a sub-species is a cheetah rex may arise in a range of cheetahs "normal".

The cheetah of the Sahara

Exceptionally pale, it is found exclusively in the Sahara desert. He spots, but less frequently than those of cheetahs savannah. It is a subspecies, known commonly cheetah of the Sahara.

Reproduction and social life

Females give birth three to five small, after a gestation period of 90 to 95 days. Small weigh between 150 and 300 grams at birth. They leave their mothers between 13 and 20 months after birth.

The cheetah is about seven years at large and between twelve and seventeen in captivity.

Unlike most cats, the adult females do not really seem territories and avoid. Males sometimes form small groups, especially when they come from the same range.

Females are polyoestrales, with an average menstrual cycle of 12 days. The period of fertility lasts for 1 to 3 days. The reproduction occurs throughout the year. A peak of births was recorded from March to June. The gestation lasts from 90 to 95 days. The number of newborns varies from 1 to 8, but is usually between 3 and 5. At birth, small measure on average 30 cm long and weighed 270 grams.

Small are grey and have a coat of hair that resembles a mane along their backs. It is assumed that this mantle makes for a better camouflage small in the grass. The coat begins to disappear at 3 months, but can still be seen at the age of 2 years. During their first few weeks of life, small have moved almost every day by their mothers to avoid predators. Indeed, the mother must leave them alone to hunt, and during this time, the smaller are often victims of predators. The infant mortality rate stands at 90%, with the majority being killed by lions. Small beginning to follow their mother at the age of 6 weeks. They are weaned at 3 or 6 months. They generally remain with their mothers for 13 to 20 months, during which she teaches them to hunt. The sexual maturity is reached at the age of 2.

Food

His diet is carnivorous, consisting mainly of mammals under 40 kg, such as gazelles, impalas, calves gnou or hares.

The technique of cheetah hunting is different from hunting on the lookout adopted by most of the big cats: to catch its prey, he approaches the herd after having scrutinized the ground from a tree branch, the summit of a termite or even from the roofs of cars. Once he spotted an animal that has turned away from his group, the cheetah patiently approaching within 50 metres. He then suddenly accelerates, for a few dozen seconds, reaching its exceptional speed, which enables him to catch animals rapids.

The cheetah is therefore both patient and fast, it has earned its name Targui translated as "one who is progressing slowly."

The cheetah hunting especially during the day (early morning and late afternoon), when other predators sleeping, probably because he can be easily intimidated by anyone wanting to steal his prey, even the vultures may force a cheetah to abandon a carcass. That is why the cheetah draws its prey to the shelter to be able to eat in peace. When sated, he abandoned the remains to scavengers. The cheetahs mountains of the Sahara are an exception because they are nocturnal hunters.

Habitat

The wild cheetahs are in Africa but also on the Iranian plateau (there are less than fifty Iran).

Domestication

From the fourth millennium before Christ, the fighters of the Euphrates domesticated cheetah order to make it an auxiliary hunting, as the Egyptians did two thousand years later. In Europe, in the tenth century, William the Conqueror appreciated the hunts to run when the original cheetah took the role of the greyhound. The most cited amateur remains Moghul Akbar the Great who, in the sixteenth century would have owned nearly a thousand cheetahs and his favorite treaty with the respect owed to a prince. In the manner of falconers, "trainers" aveuglaient cheetahs with a cap, freeing not only approach the game. Covering sight, it is instantly ruait sudden on this target. Only wild animals captured adults could be prepared. Entire populations were decimated and for the renewal of packs, which was one of the main causes of the scarcity of cheetahs, as attested by the end of the nineteenth century from the Arabian Peninsula to India, where cheetahs are today Today disappeared. The few survivors on the Asian continent haunt a small area of western Iran, probably the only country where the species has not been decimated.

Economic Importance

The skin of the cheetah was once seen as a symbol of wealth. Today, the cheetah has a growing economic importance in ecotourism. It is also found in zoos. Benefits are also derived from the commercialization of small cheetahs as pets. The young cheetahs are purchased illegally because laws prohibit the ownership of wild animals and / or threatened with extinction.

The cheetahs were previously expelled because many farmers felt they posed a threat to livestock. The species is endangered, many campaigns have been launched in an attempt to reconcile the approach of farmers and the desire to protect the cheetahs.

The governments of the countries where the cheetahs live in freedom are trying to change public opinion about the cheetah: it is not harmful if one learns to live with it, conserving it is necessary for the ecological balance.

In addition, the Namibian government is supported by the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), which works to prevent people and help farmers better live with the cheetah and to minimize their loss of livestock.

Statutes

The cheetahs are listed on the IUCN: vulnerable species (African sub-species endangered sub-species Asian Crisis) and the US ESA: endangered species - Appendix I of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species ). Global Status: Category 3 (A), regional status: Category 1 (A).

People

The estimates of its population range from 10000 to 15000.

Consanguinity

The cheetahs have an abnormally low genetic variability and a high incidence of abnormal semen. They are believed to have suffered a prolonged period of inbreeding.

According to some biologists, cheetahs have reached a degree of consanguinity too high to prosper. According to some researchers, they were victims of the last ice age, they have eliminated the majority of the people there are about 10000 years. Others dispute this theory and say that the real culprits for the decline of cheetahs are the farmers who hunt and encroach on their habitat.

Perspective reintroduction of the cheetah

The various proposals have been advanced to reintroduce the cheetah in sub-Saharan reserves, for example in Israel, India, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The conservation of the populations, however, remains the priority. In addition, the reintroduction should not be seriously considered until comparisons of genetic and environmental impact assessments have been carried out. Finally, the agreement of the board of the IUCN / SSC (the world body specialist reintroduction) must be obtained.

Perspective resurrection of the Indian cheetah

It is now subject to resurrect the famous "cheetah" (Indian cheetah), missing since 1948. Some geneticists Indians want to rely on methods for cloning the edge Lacones (Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species): "If all goes well, we can clone the cheetah India in the next five years," says Laji Singh, Director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad and principal instigator of the project. A gene bank of sperm and eggs has already been collected.

However, researchers are faced with many obstacles: they must take charge of the fabric of Iranian cheetah, which is among the most threatened species on the planet. In accordance with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), it is illegal to exchange genetic material of endangered species in its natural state. "But if the animals are bred in captivity, we have a good chance legally to obtain them," says Sinha. The African cheetah seems less close but could agree in second appeal: analysis of blood proteins have revealed that minor differences among the various populations of cheetahs. The abortion rate of cloned embryos being very high, biologists will have a sufficient number of ova.

Beyond cloning, critics of the project have questioned the future of the cheetah: "Suppose we succeed in cloning the cheetah. Okay, but where has the savannahs in which they rôdaient once? Where will it enough prey to survive? "Asks Divyabhanu Sinh, author of The End of the Trail. Critics also point out the difficulty of reintroducing captive animals in the wild. Others are protesting against the cost of the operation: the money should first be used to protect threatened animals. Thus, the exciting idea to review the Indian cheetah falls within the framework of a great debate on the reintroduction of extinct species.

According to Rakesh Kalshian (2001), Courrier International, 544, 5 April.

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