the family group/females and males. Females/Family Group
Young females usually occupy the same range as their mother although ALL females are solitary except when they have a litter. Average female home ranges extend to 833 square kilometers (322 square miles). A female raises her cubs alone since adult male and female cheetahs mix only to mate. The average life span of wild radio-collared female cheetahs is 6.9 years which compares to 11.7 years for females in captivity.
A cheetah is carnivorous and eats a variety of small animals. While most cats are
nocturnal predators, the cheetah is primarily diurnal, hunting in early morning and late afternoon. Since it depends on sight rather than smell, it likes to scan the countryside from a tree limb or the top of a termite mound. Other big cats chase only a few hundred meters: the cheetah chases 3.4 miles (5500 meters) at an average speed of 45 miles per hour (72 kilometers per hour).The name "cheetah" comes from a Hindi word meaning "spotted one" or from the Sanskrit word "chitraka". An adult has yellow or tan fur with solid black round or oval spots measuring .75 to 1.5 inches
(1.9 to 3.8 centimeters) in diameter. The spots cover nearly the entire body; only the white throat and abdomen are unmarked. The tail ends with 4-6 black rings and a bushy, white tuft. The spot pattern plus the ring pattern on the tail enable the identification of specific cheetahs (by humans). The head is small with eyes set high and a black "tear mark" running from the inner aspect of each eye down to the mouth. The teeth are small to accommodate large nasal passages. An adult cheetah weighs 80-140 pounds (36-64 kilograms), is about 32 inches (81 centimeters) tall at the shoulder and 48-56 inches (121-142 centimeters) long with another 28-32 inches (70-81 centimeters) in tail - males are a little larger than females. Cheetahs are sometimes mistaken for leopards - much heavier animals with rosette shaped spots and no tear marks.
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