Cheetah

The King Cheetah (//Acinonyx jubatus rex//)

The King Cheetah: The Master of Speed, Running for Its Life.

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The Endangered Species Act:
 * 1) Authorizes the determination and listing of species as endangered of threatened
 * 2) Porhibits unauthorized taking, possession, sale, and transportation of endangered species
 * 3) Provides authority to acquire land for the conservation of listed species, using land and water conservation funds
 * 4) Authorizes establishment of cooperative agreements and grants-in-aid to States that establish and maintain active and adequate programs for endangered and threatened wildlife and plants
 * 5) Authorizes the assessment of civil and criminal penalties for violating the Act or regulations
 * 6) Authorizes the payment of rewards to anyone furnishing information leading to arrest and conviction for any violation of the Act or any regulation issued thereunder

Description: Physcal: Behavior: Diet: Reproduction:
 * Dark spots that run together to form stripes (most often three) from the neck to the tail.
 * Dark spots on its sides and flanks.
 * Body Length: 4 feet / Shoulder Height: 30+ inches / Tail Length: 28.5 inches / Weight: 69-140 lbs.
 * The females are solitary, only sociating with males to mate.
 * She raises her cubs on her own, until they are about two years old.
 * Males live in small coalitions, which are made up of litter mates. They stay together for life.
 * When the litter is mature, the females leave, and the males form another coalition.
 * Cheetahs are carnivores.
 * They mainly eat herbivores.
 * Only 40% of Cubs live through their first year.
 * In the wild, Cheetahs rarely get over 10 years of age, so they only have three or four litters.
 * Each litter ranges from two to five cubs.
 * Gestation period is 91 days.

Once found in many places of Africa, the King Cheetah is only found in Zimbabwe and Southern Africa. The population is said to be under 30 King Cheetahs in the whole world, 10 of them being in the wild. The decline in population is blamed on Farmers moving in the their land, which forced their natural prey away. And poatching. They were killed for the extreamly rare pelt.

Thier natural habitat is the grasslands, Savannah, where they can easily follow Antelope, Impala, and Kudu.

The Cheetah have been on the Endangered Species List for 39 years (as of June 2, 1970) The DeWildt Cheetah Centre in Pretoria, South Africa is, in large part, responsible for the perserving of The King Cheetah today. They've been breeding King Cheetahs since the 1980's. The only way to get a King Cheetah cub is to mate two King Cheetahs. Their DNA is the same at the normal Cheetah, but with a slight difference from inbreeding. (That is the reason for their stripes and patches in the frist place.)

[|Defenders of Wildlife] [|Nyaru Private Game Lodge] [|De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Trust]