cheetah
This big cat is a cheetah. When it comes to cheetahs, the first reaction of most people is that they are extremely fast. The first thing that comes to mind is that cheetahs are flying. Indeed, cheetahs are the fastest animals on land. Although they can only successfully hunt at a speed of 64km/h, cheetahs can sprint at a speed of112 km/h.
Some big cat lovers may remember that in 20 12, a female cheetah, Sarah, who was 1 1 year old, ran 100 meter in 5.95 seconds, which was more than 3 seconds less than Bolt's record of 9.58 seconds, and was regarded as the fastest cheetah in the world.
Beautiful big cats. All modern cats evolved from cat-like species among ancient carnivores. After several divisions, among the three branches of ancient cat evolution (real cat, real saber-toothed tiger and cat-fearing), only the real cat survived, and finally it was divided into two branches: cat and leopard. Cheetahs were originally the only species in the subfamily Leopainae, but after revision, the subfamily Leopainae was cancelled and now it is listed as the only species in the subfamily Leopainae.
According to the phylogenetic tree of cats, cheetahs are closely related to pumas and thin-waisted cats. These three species are isomorphic to the puma pedigree, and they may have the same ancestor in Miocene. About 6.7 million years ago, cheetahs gradually separated from cougars and thin-waisted cats, differentiated in different directions, and finally became what we see in modern times.
cheetah
1775, the German naturalist John officially described this species. The cheetah has a body length of 1- 1.5m, a tail length of 0.5-0.8m and a shoulder height of 0.7-0.9m One species is between 2 1-72kg, and the male is slightly larger than the female.
The overall hair is light yellow, the abdomen is usually white, the whole body is covered with about 2000 solid black spots, and the tail near the end has black ring markings, which is different from leopards and jaguars.
The cheetah's head is very small and round, and its ears are very short. There are two black stripes from the inner corner of the eye to the corner of the mouth, which is its most important symbol.
Emperor cheetah (king cheetah)
Traditionally, cheetahs are divided into five subspecies, namely named subspecies, East African subspecies, North African subspecies, West African subspecies and Indian subspecies, but after revision, modern cheetahs are divided into three subspecies, namely named subspecies, West African subspecies and Indian subspecies.
Cheetah has an obvious variation, which makes the spots on its body form stripes and large patches, and has obvious mane on its neck, but it is much shorter than the lion. This variation is called the Emperor Cheetah, which is bigger and more powerful than the common cheetah.
Cheetah, leopard, leopard are not very familiar with cats. May they meet cheetahs, leopards and leopards? Stupid not to see? After all, their looks are very similar, and their names all bear the word leopard. In fact, there are great differences between these three animals. As long as you observe them carefully, you can know who they are.
First of all, cheetahs are the easiest to judge. As mentioned above, it has two long stripes from the corner of the eye to the corner of the mouth, with a small head and a slender figure. As long as you see these characteristics, you can almost conclude that it is a cheetah.
Three kinds of big cats
It is difficult to distinguish a leopard from a leopard, but it is not extremely difficult. The most typical feature is the pattern on the body. The background color of leopards is mainly dark gold to light yellow, and the spots are symmetrical and rose-shaped.
Jaguar's background color is mostly orange or deep yellow, and its stripes are irregular and rose-shaped, but its? Roses? There is a tiny spot in the middle, which can quickly tell whether it is a leopard or a jaguar. In addition, compared with leopards, the muscle lines of leopards are more obvious.
The cheetah is chasing its prey.
Although these three animals all carry the word leopard, a leopard in the strict sense refers to a leopard, including all its subspecies. Neither a cheetah nor a leopard is a real leopard. Cheetahs do not belong to the leopard genus. It's a big cat, and it doesn't growl like liger. It can only send out what a kitten can send out? Gollum? Voice, correspondence, this? Gollum? The sound will not be in the leopard species.
Both leopards and leopards roar. From the morphological point of view, leopards have the closest genetic relationship with leopards, but from the data on DNA, there is no such conclusion.
A cheetah born for speed can run so fast. We observe its overall shape, as if it was born for speed. Cheetah has light weight, long and flexible spine, strong and slender muscles, which can push the body forward. The huge nasal cavity can help cheetah inhale oxygen at high speed, thus ensuring that the blood can transport more oxygen and maintain good health. This makes the speed of the cheetah from 0 to 95km/h only take about three seconds, and the powerful instantaneous speed makes the cheetah extremely explosive.
Of course, although the speed of cheetah can reach 1 12km/h, and its huge nasal cavity can ensure sufficient oxygen supply, its high-speed running time is very short. If you run at high speed for a long time, the cheetah's circulatory system and respiratory system will be overloaded, and the accumulated heat of the body will not be discharged quickly, which will easily lead to collapse, so the cheetah will inevitably slow down after running a certain distance.
Hyenas (left) and cheetahs
In many documentaries, we can see the scene that cheetahs will sit next to their prey to catch their breath after hunting. This is not because it is not hungry enough, but because the cheetah after high-speed pursuit is too weak to eat and must rest. Competitors such as hyenas often take advantage of this excellent opportunity to snatch the prey that cheetahs finally catch.
Unique inner ear structure Many people know this phenomenon. The faster you walk, the more blurred your vision will become. You often can't keep a close eye on an object. But cheetahs don't seem to have this kind of trouble, so how can cheetahs keep an eye on their prey when chasing at high speed?
This is due to the special structure of cheetah inner ear. A new study published in Science Report shows that some parts of the cheetah's inner ear can keep the balance of thinking and keep their eyes on the prey during the sprint.
A cheetah in a gallop
The researchers analyzed the skulls of 2 1 cat with high-resolution X-ray computed tomography, and found that the vestibular system of modern cheetahs has significant differences in characteristics and proportions, occupying much more space in the inner ear than that of modern and extinct 12 cats.
The average volume of vestibular system of all existing cats is 32.4%, while that of cheetahs is between 38% and 43.7%. The upper semicircular canal and the posterior semicircular canal are longer, which helps cheetahs keep their brains and vision stable when running at high speed.
A cheetah treated as a pet
Endangered cats mention cheetahs, and another phenomenon is that people often associate them with luxury cars. In some parts of the Middle East, the rich often show off their pet cheetahs. But you know what? Almost all these cheetahs are obtained through illegal trade. Will there be business? Murder? When trading, the price of a cheetah cub often exceeds $65,438+$0,000. Some people will take risks and trap cheetahs in pursuit of profits.
In 20 16, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published a report, which mentioned that there are only 7 100 wild cheetahs left in the world, which is about 93% less than that in 1990. If the rescue mechanism is not changed, it will be reduced by 53% in the next 15.
Cheetah distribution map
Judging from the current distribution map of cheetahs, compared with the historical distribution area, it has decreased by about 9 1%. They used to be distributed in most parts of Africa and Asia, but now cheetahs in Asia are almost extinct. In Africa, they can only be seen in a few countries such as Angola, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.
South Africa is the country with the largest habitat and the largest number of cheetahs, but it is optimistically estimated that there are only 6,800 cheetahs, and only 18.4% cheetahs live in internationally recognized protected areas, and the rest live in human pastoral areas or hunting areas, so their living conditions are extremely pessimistic.
Measures and significance of protecting cheetahs Although cheetahs have great speed and strength, these things have become very small in front of human beings. As early as a few years ago, a group of scientists called for upgrading the survival status of cheetahs to endangered species, which shows what kind of state cheetahs are in at this time.
At present, almost all regions in Africa have actively participated in the conservation plan for cheetahs and implemented many protection measures, including direct protection measures, such as protecting the environment, monitoring population information and introducing protection measures, such as publicity and education. In Iran, cheetahs are almost completely protected and live in protected areas.
The distribution density of cheetahs in the whole range of their habitats is very low, so the workload of protection is also huge. Fortunately, people have realized the preciousness of this animal and its pessimistic living condition.
As a predator at the top of the food chain, cheetahs play an irreplaceable role in controlling the number of most herbivores and a few carnivores and maintaining the balance of the local ecological environment. So protecting cheetahs means protecting the balance of the ecosystem, which is harmless. In addition, protecting cheetahs also means protecting the diversity of global animal resources. No one wants to see this animal in books or video materials.