When it comes to the beasts of prey in nature, most people think of felines, especially tigers and lions, who are powerful predators at the top of the food chain. Tigers are distributed in the north and south of China's great rivers, leaving a strong mark in Chinese culture, becoming an inseparable part of Chinese civilization; and lions were distributed in the western region in ancient times, although far from the core area of Chinese civilization, but still through various ways into China, after a long period of localization, it has also become an important part of Chinese civilization, tiger culture is native, lion culture is used in China, and the two different cultures reflect each other in Chinese history. It just reflects the infinite creativity and strong inclusiveness of Chinese civilization.
In addition to lions, another exotic cat has also left a deep mark on Chinese culture, that is, cheetahs. Now mention the cheetah, people will think of the king of the sprint in the African savannah, in fact, there are many records about the cheetah in the history of our country, it and the lion, through tribute and trade routes into our country, therefore, the relationship between the cheetah and our country is not far.
This article mainly describes the origin and distribution of cheetahs, the ancient cheetah culture in China, and the current living conditions of cheetahs, hoping that more people can understand this beautiful big cat.
<h1>The distribution, origin and development of cheetahs</h1>
1. Overview of cheetahs
Cheetahs, also known as Indian leopards, have this nickname because modern Western biologists are most likely to see them in British India. However, the Indian subspecies of leopards is also called Indian leopards, and the two should be distinguished. In 1775, German scholars officially named and described the species.
Cheetahs were originally a separate subfamily of cheetahs, but were later incorporated into the cat subfamily, becoming the only large cat in the cat subfamily other than mountain lions. Cheetahs are the fastest animals in nature, sprinting up to 112.65 km/h over short distances and being able to accelerate to 65 km/h in 2 seconds, while cheetahs run for 100 meters in just 5.95 seconds, more than 3 seconds shorter than bolt's 100-meter record, but they can only run at a top speed of 200-300 meters.
Cheetah's body structure is highly specialized, in order to pursue speed and sacrifice strength, cheetah weighs about 40-70 kg, although it looks not small, but the cheetah limbs are slender, there is no extra muscle on the body, resulting in it is very thin compared to other cats, but also lack of other cats are good at fighting ability.
Lioness drives cheetahs
In the African savannah, cheetahs' main rivals are hyenas, leopards and lions. A single spotted hyena can easily drive away two cheetahs, and leopards often kill cheetahs, and lions sometimes expel cheetahs.
But the biggest threat to cheetahs is humans.
2. Distribution of cheetahs
Cheetah distribution map, brown is the historical distribution, yellow is the existing distribution
Cheetahs, like lions, were once widely distributed in the savannahs and Gobi deserts of Africa and Asia, and almost coincided with the distribution range of lions in Asia, and the living environment of the two was similar. But in modern times, especially in the past two hundred years, Asian cheetahs and lions have been hunted in large numbers, and the destruction of habitats has led to a rapid decline in numbers. In the end, the Asiatic lion remained in a protected area of less than 2,000 square kilometers in the Indian state of Gujarat, and after more than 100 years of breeding, the number increased to more than 500.
The Asian cheetah disappeared for a time, in 1948 in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh 3 male juvenile cheetahs were killed, since then, people have never seen a wild cheetah in India, and there is no trace of cheetahs in the war-torn Middle East, so the international consensus is that wild Asian cheetahs became extinct in 1948. In 1995, the last cheetah at the Delhi Zoo in India died, ending the asian cheetah's journey in India.
Cheetahs in Iran
But years later, cheetahs were miraculously found in the mountains of northern Iran, and cheetahs were forced to hide in desolate mountains due to the effects of war, preserving the last wild population for this species. As a result, Iran has become the only country outside of Africa that has wild cheetahs.
3. The origin of the cheetah
Although the cheetah is now distributed in Asia and Africa, it did not originate here, but thousands of miles away on the North American continent.
Felines Cat subfamily Evolutionary Tree/Picture from the web
About 6.7 million years ago, cats that entered the North American continent via the Bering Land Bridge evolved the American Golden Cat lineage, which in turn differentiated into the genus Cheetah and the American Golden Cat. About 3 million years ago, the PanamaNian Land Bridge was formed, and the mountain lion entered South America with the close-knit jaguar and slender-waisted cat and continues to this day. The genus Beetle began to flow back to the Asian continent and spread to Europe and Africa, evolving other cheetah species, while those that remained in the Americas evolved into the North American cheetah and became extinct in the Pleistocene 12,000 years ago.
North American cheetahs hunt for forked horned antelope
North American cheetahs once hunted for forked horned antelopes in the vast grasslands of North America, and now the forked horned antelope still lives here, but the North American cheetah has disappeared. Cheetahs in the high latitudes of Europe and Asia have also become extinct due to climate upheavals, leaving the species to exist only in the drier tropics.
<h1>Cheetah culture in our country</h1>
Cheetah culture flourished in North Africa, West Asia, South Asia and Central Asia, and this culture has also been introduced to China historically.
The animals that assist in hunting in ancient Chinese hunting activities are mainly hunting dogs, falcons and cheetahs, and hunting dogs can be bred by native dog breeds in China, and falcons come from the northern region of China. Cheetahs are not produced in China, but can be from The Silk Road from West Asia, South Asia and Africa and other places into China, "cheetah" this Chinese scientific name is actually an ancient name, with cheetah auxiliary hunting called "leopard hunting". China's earliest leopard hunting can be traced back to the Han Dynasty, and lions are said to have entered China in the Han Dynasty, because the opening of the Silk Road allowed these animals to enter the Central Plains through tribute.
Partial map of "Ma Negative Wen Leopard" in the "Hunting Travel Map" of Prince Zhanghuai's tomb
However, cheetahs disappeared in the historical records for a long time after the Han Dynasty, and the reason can be seen from the history that only a strong dynasty could seize the land outside the Seychelles, attract the Western Domain kingdoms to come to pay tribute with cheetahs, and also provide a venue for leopard hunting. As a result, during the Tang Dynasty, there were records and shapes of cheetahs again. Tang Dynasty clan tombs have unearthed horse-ridden cheetah-shaped clay figurines, Tang Dynasty Yide Prince tomb unearthed leopard murals, Zhang Huai Prince Tomb "Hunting Travel Map" in the cheetah crouched on horseback, called "Ma Negative Wen Leopard", must be professional leopard taming when the cheetah can be obediently crouched on horseback, follow the knight to the major hunting grounds.
The "Ma Negative Wen Leopard" recorded in ancient Chinese calligraphy and painting works and documents first appeared in the Northern Dynasty period, and Zhan Ziqian's famous work "Qi Hou Lord Xing Jinyang Palace Map" depicts the scene of the Northern Qi young lord Gao Heng hunting in the Jinyang Palace in Taiyuan.
On the left is the "Yuan Shizu Hunting Map", and on the right is the partial map of "Ma Negative Wen Leopard"
Leopard hunting activities in the Khitan period were very popular, and the Khitan nobles used cheetah hunting in the "Long Story of The Continuation of Zizhi Tongjian"; during the Mongolian Yuan Period, the Mongols conquered the Asian cheetah production areas other than South Asia, and were able to obtain a large number of high-quality cheetahs and leopard trainers.
Therefore, cheetahs have left many traces in ancient China, but because cheetahs can only be used for hunting, they have always been "special foreign objects" that can only be accessed by the upper nobility, and ordinary people know very little about this animal, so cheetah culture has not been popular in China like lion culture.
<h1>The survival status of cheetahs</h1>
1. The number of African cheetahs has declined rapidly
A 2016 report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences described the current situation of cheetahs, but the reality could only be worse.
2. The Asian cheetah is endangered
Although Iran has preserved the last wild population of Asian cheetahs and launched a conservation program for cheetahs in 2001, the status quo remains extremely dangerous. There are currently just over 50 Asian cheetahs left, and they face a variety of threats, including traffic accidents, food shortages and injuries from hounds and wild dogs. Iranian conservation personnel patrol and search for cheetahs in the 60,000-square-kilometer protected area on a daily basis, and raise rabbits and antelopes to feed the cheetahs, but only 20 sightings were reported in 2016. But between 2001 and 2016, about 20 Asian cheetahs were killed on the road.
Female Asian cheetah Delbar
But there are only three Captive Asian cheetahs in Iran, the male Kushki, the female delbar and Iran. At the beginning of this year, conservators began preparing to artificially inseminate Kushki and Delbar, but unfortunately, just in the middle of last month, conservators said that Delbar did not succeed in getting pregnant and the artificial insemination program failed.
There is really not much time left for humans to save the Asiatic cheetah, and I hope that the Asian cheetah can be reborn like the Asiatic lion.
3. India is thirsty for it
The Asian cheetah is the only large vertebrate that has gone extinct in India for nearly two hundred years, and since the 1980s, India has wanted cheetahs to return to the South Asian subcontinent. In 2009, the plan was put on the agenda, but the introduction of cheetahs from Iran declared bankruptcy and had to implement an alternative plan, the introduction of cheetahs from Namibia, Africa. But 10 years later, the cheetah has not returned to India.
Even after the loss of cheetahs, India is still the country with the largest number of cat species in the world. India has saved the Asiatic lion, preserved the largest number of wild tigers, has the largest number of leopards in Asia, and has done its best to protect cats.
4, the pet market is hot
As the saying goes, "No buying and selling, no killing." Because of its docile personality and elegant posture, cheetahs have become high-end pets that are popular in Europe, America and the Middle East, and are regarded as the standard of local tycoons. On the black market, a cheetah cub typically trades for more than $10,000, with reports of more than 1,200 cheetahs sold outside of Africa in 10 years, with 85 percent of them dying on the way, while even more unseen trades were reported.
Cheetah cubs
Repeated poaching and trafficking are sending cheetahs to the brink of extinction.
<h1>epilogue</h1>
Maybe many people, including me, have only seen this kind of athletic cat on TV or online, and we have the impression that it just runs very fast. Few people know that this big cat has left a deep trace in the history of our country, and the cheetah is not unrelated to us, it has inadvertently formed a fate with our country for thousands of years. International Cheetah Day is celebrated on December 4 every year to call for more attention and protection of this beautiful big cat.
Cheetahs, like tigers, lions, golden leopards and giant pandas, have left a deep mark on Chinese culture and are indispensable rare animals. If one day we or future generations can only see this king of nature's sprints in videos and pictures, it will be an absolute disaster!