When it comes to the word "jiejie", many people think of cheetahs. It is true that cheetahs are not only the king of speed among cats, but also the fastest species on land, but what many people don't know is that they pay a great price for speed, and are even called "the shame of felines" by many people.
Today, we will talk about the story of the cheetah.
Image source: Bird Net
<h1>The king of speed in felines</h1>
As we all know, although cheetahs have a "leopard" in their names, they do not belong to the leopard subfamily, but are cat subfamily. They have a variety of calls, with a crisp sound like a bird, or a cat,but not a low roar.
The cheetah is furry and spotted, with a black stripe from the inner corner of the eye to the corner of the mouth, and a black ring at the end of the tail.
Originally, cheetahs were found in India, so they were also called Indian leopards, but now they mainly live in Africa. Cheetahs have slender limbs and graceful figures, but it is not easy for this beautiful animal to grow into adulthood.
One survey showed that cheetah pups in the wild have a mortality rate of up to 70 percent, because when mothers go out hunting, the cubs are usually left alone and vulnerable to attacks by animals such as hyenas; some pups starve to death due to lack of food.
It is worth mentioning that very young cheetah cubs "disguise" themselves. Their backs will grow a patch of light-colored fur, and from a distance, these cubs will look very much like "flat-headed" honey badgers.
The adult cheetah is the "king of hunting" in the grassland. They are the fastest animals on land, reaching speeds of up to 110 kilometers per hour, the same speed limit on our highways. However, not every cheetah can reach this speed every time it runs.
So why can a cheetah run so fast? This has to do with a lot of the characteristics of their bodies. First, the cheetah is the only member of the cat family that cannot retract its claws, and the claws are more blunt, and contact with the ground will cause more friction;
Second, the vertebrae of cheetahs are very soft, and when they run, they can bend their bodies to the greatest extent, so that the front legs and hind legs are close, and they quickly bounce off after arching their bodies, bursting out with great explosive force;
Third, the cheetah's weight is relatively light, the legs and tail are slender, the head is small, the body is streamlined, the pace range is large, the resistance is small, and the speed is naturally fast.
At the same time, their running is very flexible, one of the reasons is that in the emergency stop sharp turn, they can use the tail to maintain balance, not to fall.
Scientists have studied the state of cheetahs when they run, and found that their heads are stationary when chasing prey, and their legs, backs, and muscles are coordinated.
In the inner ear of a cheetah, extremely fine structures were found. The fine inner ear allows cheetahs to maintain balance while running at extreme speeds and combine with other adaptability to improve their hunting efficiency.
With such a speed advantage, all the animals on the grassland can't run the cheetah, and many prey can only be slaughtered by it. It is understood that cheetahs have a hunting success rate of up to 58%.
<h1>The fastest cheetah on land, pays a great price for speed</h1>
Cheetahs are cute when they are young, and wild and elegant in adulthood, but some people call this animal the "shame of cats".
It turned out that cheetahs sacrificed a lot of things for extreme speed, and paid a lot of price.
The first thing to sacrifice is endurance. Running at high speeds is extremely challenging to the respiratory system and internal circulation system, and the heat production is about 50 times that of usual.
When a cheetah runs, the heat accumulated in the body cannot be quickly discharged, and if it keeps running fast for a long time, it is likely to face life danger.
Faster than all animals on land, cheetahs sacrificed their endurance, they could not run at high speed for a long time, they had to start decelerating in less than 30 seconds, and they had to take time to recover after each hunt.
The second price to pay is weight. As mentioned earlier, "cheetahs weigh less", how light is it? Their average weight is 35-72 kg, which can be described as petite compared to large cats. Their light weight makes them faster, but they also lose some advantage.
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In addition, cheetahs' paws are more damaged than those of other cats.
When running, the claws of other cats will indent into the soles of their feet, and then extend them when hunting, which can play a maintenance role; but the cheetah's claws cannot be retracted, and although the grip is stronger, the degree of wear is also increased.
Finally, for speed, cheetahs also pay the price of bite force. They have shorter heads and thin, light skulls that, from the side, resemble triangles. This head structure reduces the burden on the neck and shoulders and facilitates fast running.
But at the same time as the speed increased, the muscles at the junction of the cheetah's skull and jaw were also shortened, and the opening of the mouth was smaller than that of other big cats. Moreover, their bite force is relatively average, and the canine teeth are relatively short, so the bite killing ability is limited.
In terms of speed, the cheetah is the champion of the sprint of the land animals, and no other animal can run it, it is like an agile assassin, with the speed to kill the prey.
But for the sake of speed, cheetahs also pay a great price, resulting in them not being as good at fighting as other big cats, and even sleeping may be disturbed by other animals, and sleep unsteadily.
It can only be said that "if there is a giveaway, there is a gain", cheetahs in the process of evolution chose speed, sacrificing strong bones and strong strength, there is no absolutely perfect animal in the world, almost all species have shortcomings and deficiencies.
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