The cheetah Acinonyx jubatus is a large cat and the fastest land animal. It has a tawny to creamy white or pale buff fur that is marked with evenly spaced, solid black spots.
The head is small and rounded, with a short snout and black tear-like facial streaks. It reaches 67—94 cm 26—37 in at the shoulder, and the head-and-body length is between 1. Adults weigh between 21 and 65 kg 46 and lb. The cheetah was first described in the late 18th century.
Four subspecies are recognised today that are native to Africa and central Iran. An African subspecies was introduced to India in It is now distributed mainly in small, fragmented populations in northwestern, eastern and southern Africa and central Iran. It lives in a variety of habitats such as savannahs in the Serengeti , arid mountain ranges in the Sahara , and hilly desert terrain.
The cheetah lives in three main social groups : females and their cubs, male "coalitions", and solitary males. While females lead a nomadic life searching for prey in large home ranges , males are more sedentary and instead establish much smaller territories in areas with plentiful prey and access to females. The cheetah is active during the day, with peaks during dawn and dusk. It feeds on small- to medium-sized prey, mostly weighing under 40 kg 88 lb , and prefers medium-sized ungulates such as impala , springbok and Thomson's gazelles.
The cheetah typically stalks its prey within 60— m — ft before charging towards it, trips it during the chase and bites its throat to suffocate it to death. It breeds throughout the year. After a gestation of nearly three months, females give birth to a litter of three or four cubs.
