If you look closely at this photo you will find such a magical phenomenon, the hair of cheetah cubs is very characteristic, not quite like an adult cheetah, but like another animal, forehead... What the hell is going on?
That's right, it's the "flat-headed brother" honey badger!
So have you ever wondered whether the hair characteristics of cheetah cubs are coincidental or whether cheetahs are deliberately disguised in the long process of evolution?
Spoilers for the answer, this is the cheetah deliberately disguised. So why would a cheetah do this?
In nature, because animal cubs do not have any offensive power and defense capabilities, they have become the most vulnerable group, even if it is a fierce predator like a lion, their cubs also need to tremble and "suck" every day in the process of growing up.
Among the many predator cubs, especially cheetah cubs are more vulnerable, almost any predator can easily kill them, after all, as predators, cheetahs themselves are not strong enough because of their size, coupled with their lack of "weapons" such as sharp teeth and claws. Therefore, when facing danger, they often rely on the advantage of speed and take measures to avoid danger by taking measures to escape. But doing so puts cheetah cubs in danger.
According to statistics, in Tanzania's Serengeti district, less than 5% of cheetah pups survive to be weaned, and their mortality rate is much higher than that of most mammals, and the number one killer of this result is lions. Of course, elsewhere, the mortality rate of cheetah pups is just as ridiculously high. In order to keep the cubs alive, the cheetahs racked their brains, and finally one day, they realized that they could let the cubs imitate a kind of "bully" to avoid tragedy.
This kind of "bully" is the "flat-headed brother" honey badger that the lion hates the most and does not dare to provoke.
If you look closely at the hair of cheetah cubs, you will find that the color of their hair is not normal, with a bright upper and a darker bottom. This color just matches the color of honey badger hair.
There is a reason for choosing to disguise as honey badgers instead of other animals. On the one hand, because the size of cheetah cubs is similar to that of honey badgers, the success rate of camouflage will be higher, and on the other hand, because the honey badger's status in the animal kingdom is "unshakable". Why?
Although honey badgers may seem small, they have courage and intelligence that most other mammals do not have. In the African savannah, honey badgers not only dare to call out cheetahs and lions, but even groups of hyenas in groups of three or five dare to go it alone.
They also know how to use, or even make, simple tools to help them do something. In a wildlife park in the United States, there have been many incidents of honey badgers escaping through tools "escaping" from prison.
Combining these factors, animals in nature that dare to take the initiative to provoke the "flat-headed brother" honey badger are rare. Because they know that if they take the initiative to provoke this kind of "bully", the final result must be to get a wound. It is precisely for this reason that the cheetah's choice to disguise its cubs as honey badgers is definitely the wisest move.
With the success of camouflage, such camouflage effects do play a huge role in real life, many lions will really choose to avoid after seeing the "honey badger cheetah", if there is no such layer of camouflage, cheetah cubs will most likely become prey in the mouth of lions.
I have to say that in order to survive in the cruel natural world, cheetahs are really racking their brains.