The Cheetah: Built for Speed

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The Cheetah: Built for Speed

What animal do you know can compete with a sports car in a race? Take a wild guess. Cheetahs! Cheetahs are the best because they’re the fastest land animal. Also, they are fascinating felions and have many special features like no other animal. The cheetah is primarily found in Africa (D’Silva). They are made for speed. “Built more like greyhounds than typical cats, cheetahs are adapted for brief but intense bursts of speed (Smithsonian). In Africa, everyone head to the lion’s cage expecting to see the lions because they are the king of Africa as the movie, “The Lion King” describes. However, because cheetahs are the fastest land animals, lions can not compete with it, and cheetahs have many features that any other animal does not have, when the people visits Africa, they should go straight to the cheetah’s cage. All of these facts are what makes the cheetah the best animal.

They have long, sharp claws that act as running shoes, to keep their prey from escaping and they also have ridged pads on feet for extra grip. The reason for the long tails that cheetahs have is to provide balance to it when it runs (Russell). Milton Hildebrand, an American Zoologist at the University of California, Davis, notes in his journal that the cheetah has sharp flexion of wrist and ankle joints as their respective girdles pass over them is described and interpreted (Hildebrand 84). All the features cheetahs have, especially speed, are used to hunt prey. “A cheetah can accelerate to a running speed of more than 60 miles per hour in just two to three seconds, sustaining that speed for up to 1,000 feet (Encarta).”

In the cheetah world, speed is the most important super power it has and it is also used for hunting prey ...

... middle of paper ...

...encarta.msn.com

Cheetah Hunting Behaviors: Cheetahs Are Very Graceful Animals. http://www.spfdbus.com/JessZoo/Cheetahbabies/info/hunting.htm

Dickman, Amy J.and Marker, Laurie L. Journal of Mammalogy:

Morphology, Pysical Condition, and Growth of the Cheetah (Acinonyx Jubatus Jubatus). American Society of Mammalogists, 2003.

D'Silva, Roy. Cheetah Facts. Published: 3/26/2007. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/cheetah-facts.html

Hildebrand, Milton. “Journal of Mammalogy: Futher Studies on Locomotion of the Cheetah.” 42.1, Feb., 1961 pp. 84-91. Web.

Russell, Michael "Cheetah - Speed Is My Life." Cheetah - Speed Is My Life. 28 Apr. 2006. EzineArticles.com. 3 May 2009 .

“Smithsonian National Zoological Park: African Savannah.” http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/AfricanSavanna/fact-cheetah.cfm

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